Miss  Toose^'s  Mission"  and  "L 


• 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


Tl 


•i  -^ 

a  -"*     -i. 


'j^t 


WL 


;s^^' 


^B 


TIP    CAT. 


IP 

G6t4M 


AT. 


BY  THE  AUTHOR  OF 
*  MISS  TOOSEY'S   MISSION"  AND    "LADDIE." 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS. 
1884. 


In  one  Volume,  Price  75  cents. 
MISS     TOOSEY'S     MISSION 

AND 

LADDIE. 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS.^ 


TZ7 


CONTENTS. 


-  CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

"  The  Poor,  old  Grandfather !  " 5 

CHAPTER  II. 
Reading  the  Will 17 

CHAPTER  III. 
A  Sore  Heart 32 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Plans  for  the  Future 40 

CHAPTER  V. 
An  Opening 54 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The  Last  Day  in  the  Old  Home 65 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Slowmill 76 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Tip  Cat 88 


CHAPTER  IX. 
The  New  Life       99 

CHAPTER  X. 
Weekly  Bills 109 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Tipton  Farm 121 


622821 


iv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Ways  and  Means    .... 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
A  Visit  to  Bristol 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Notice  to  Leave     .......    .    ......    IS1 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Flitting        .....  :.  .   .    .-   .......     l63 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Tea  at  the  Grange   ..............     i?4 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Letty's  Birthday      ..............     194 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
An  Unexpected  Meeting     ...........     205 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
*'  Tip  Cat,  Remember  Your  Promise."    .......    217 

CHAPTER  XX. 
To  the  Rescue      ..............    230 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Poor  Dick      ................    241 

CHAPTER   XXII. 
Getting  Well      .    ..............     254' 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Dick's  Obstinacy     ..............     266 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
"  For  my  Sake."      ..............     275 


TIP   CAT. 

• 
CHAPTER  I. 

"  THE   POOR,  OLD   GRANDFATHER  !  " 

WHEN  there  was  a  funeral  at  a  house  on  the  other 
side  of  the  street,  Letty  and  Sybil  were  allowed  to 
stand  at  the  nursery  window,  and  watch  all  that  went 
on,  though  nurse  would  not  allow  them  to  have  the 
window  open  and  to  lean  out,  as  she  and  Martha  did, 
to  see  it  turn  the  corner  into  the  square,  but  the 
children  saw  a  good  deal,  and,  for  weeks  after,  fun- 
erals was  their  favorite  game,  and  they  even  per- 
suaded nurse  to  dress  the  doll  Sybil  had  on  her  birth- 
day as  a  widow. 

So  it  seemed  very  hard  to  the  children  that  when 
there  was  a  funeral  at  their  own  house,  the  nursery 
blinds  were  kept  closely  drawn  down,  and  they  were 


6  TIP   CAT. 

not  allowed  to  raise  even  one  little  corner  to  peep 
out,  though  they  heard  nurse  telling  Martha  that  it 
was  the  finest  funeral  there  had  been  for  years,  and 
though  she  and  Martha  disappeared  into  the  night 
nursery,  and  locked  the  door,  and  Letty  and  Sybil 
were  almost  sure  that  they  were  having  a  look  them- 
selves, though  they  would  not  allow  the  children  to 
do  so. 

It  was  the  children's  grandfather  who  died,  and 
nurse  said  they  were  very  'eartless  because  they  did 
not  cry  when  she  told  them  he  was  dead,  though  she 
sniffed  a  good  deal  herself  behind  the  corner  of  her 
apron,  and  gave  them  each  a  clean  pocket-handker- 
chief for  the  same  purpose  ;  and  Letty  and  Sybil  both 
tried  their  best,  and  thought  of  the  doll  he  had  given 
them,  and  of  the  grapes  he  put  on  their  plate  when 
they  came  down  to  dessert ;  but  though  they  blinked 
their  eyes  very  hard,  they  kept  quite  dry,  and  just  then 
the  kitten  jumped  up  at  nurse's  apron  string  and 
made  them  laugh,  and  nurse  said  they  were  'eartless  ; 
and  when  she  went  on  to  tell  them  that  Mr.  Dick  was 
coming  home,  it  was  no  use  the  children  trying  to 
look  sad  any  longer,  and  it  was  as  much  as  they 
could  do  to  resist  dancing  round  the  room.  Dick  was 
their  own  brother,  and  quite  grown  up,  but  not  grown 


"  THE  *POOR,  OLD  GRANDPA  THER."  7 

up  dull  like  most  people  ;  he  was  not  too  old  to  enjoy 
a  game  of  blind  man's  buff,  or  feeding  the  ducks  in 
the  Serpentine,  or  a  long  afternoon  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens  with  a  really  satisfactory  time  devoted  to 
the  monkeys ;  and  it  was  not  only  just  to  please  the 
children,  with  a  sort  of  kind,  patient  endurance,  like 
most  grown  up  people,  which  spoils  half  the  pleasure, 
but  because  he  liked  it  himself  ;  and  when  he  took 
them  to  the  Pantomime  he  always  took  three  seats 
in  a  row,  and  sat  between  his  two  little  sisters,  so  that 
they  should  all  see  just  the  same ;  and  he  laughed 
quite  as  much  and  much  louder  than  either  of  them 
instead  of  putting  the  little  ones  in  front  and  retiring 
to  the  back  of  the  box,  and  yawning  like  Uncle  Tom. 
Dick  was  at  Oxford  when  his  grandfather  died, 
and  they  telegraphed  for  him  to  come  at  once.  Old 
Mr.  Lucas  died  very  suddenly.  He  seemed  quite 
wetl  when  he  came  in  to  dinner,  and  Letty<  and 
Sybil  had  their  white  frocks  put  on,  and  went  down 
to  dessert  as  usual ;  and  they  did  not  notice  that  he 
was  silent,  for  he  always  was  so,  and  the  little  girls 
never  remembered  on  any  occasion  his  saying  more 
to  them  than,  "  Good  girl,  good  girl !  "  and  patting 
them  on  the  head,  as  if  he  were  thinking  of  anything 
in  the  world  except  his  little  granddaughters.  Sybil 


8  TIP  CAT. 

fancied  that  he  said,  "  bless  you,"  as  she  kissed  his 
gray  whisker,  but  Letty  did  not  hear  him. 

He  went  into  the  library  behind  the  dining-room 
after  dinner,  as  he  generally  did  when  he  was  alone, 
and  had  his  coffee  taken  to  him  there,  and  when  Jen- 
kins went  in  to  ask  if  he  wanted  anything  more,  he 
was  writing  letters  at  the  table,  and  there  they  found 
him  next  morning,  dead,  apd  lys  head  had  fallen  for- 
ward on  to  a  letter  he  had  jjus't  begun  to  Dick.  "  My 
dear  Dick,"  and  that  was  allN(( J 

Dick  always  kept  that  blotted  sheet  among  his 
most  precious  possessions,  and  when  people  said 
that  the  old  man  had  dealt  unfairly  with  him  and 
the  little  girls,  and  blamed  him,  and  it  was  hard  to 
find  an  answer  for  them  in  a  very  sore  heart,  Dick 

would  get  out  the"  -paper  and  look  at  it  with  tears  in 

^v~  / ^^^      ^^  ^^""r\   I      — "~~ 

his  eyes  and  say,  "  Poor  old  fellow,  he  meant  to  set 

it  right ;  it  wasn't  his  fault." 

The  old  grandfather  was  certainly  very  fond  of 
Dick,  though  he  was  nearly  as  silent  with  him  as  he 
was  with  the  little  girls  ;  but  Dick  was  used  to  him, 
and  would  chatter  away  to  him  about  his  school  life 
and  the  fun  he  had,  and  the  friends,  and  the  fights, 
and  the  mischief,  without  being  discouraged  by  only 
receiving  a  grunt  or  an  absent,  preoccupied  look  for 


"THE  POOR,  OLD  GRANDFATHER."  9 

all  response.  And  Dick  was  very  fond  of  him  ;  the 
boy  had  been  sent  home  from  India  when  he  was 
quite  a  baby,  so  the  dull,  old  house  in  Bedford  Place 
had  been  the  only  home  he  had  ever  known,  and  the 
silent,  grave,  old  grandfather  had  taken  the  place  of 
his  parents,  for  long  letters  on  foreign  paper  cannot 
replace  daily  intercourse,  however  kind  and  loving 
they  may  be.  Dick  was  quite  a  big  boy  when  Letty 
and  Sybil  came  home  to  England,  and  he  was  just 
going  to  leave  school.  Four  little  baby  brothers  had 
been  born  between  Dick  and  Letty,  but  they  had  all 
died,  and  the  poor  mother  kept  the  two  little  girls  with 
her  as  long  as  she  dared,  and  it  nearly  broke  her  heart 
parting  from  them,  and  the  children  will  never  for- 
get how  she  looked  when  she  said,  "  Good-bye,  my 
darlings  ;  love  one  another,  and  be  good  to  grand- 
papa and  brother  Dick  till  I  come  home." 

It  was  only  six  months  afterwards  that  the  news 
came  that  both  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Lucas  had  died  of 
cholera,  Dick  told  the  little  girls.  He  came  up 
into  the  nursery  and  took  them  on  his  knees  and 
put  his  arms  round  them,  and  they  each  rested  her 
head  on  his  shoulder.  They  were  very  little  then 
and  did  not  understand,  it  was  all  so  strange  ;  and 
they  did  not  cry,  for  Dick  said  that  father  and  mother 


io  TIP  CAT. 

were  not  farther  off,  for  heaven  was  nearer  than 
India. 

"  But,  Dick,"  Letty  said,  wistfully,  "  they  won't 
ever  come  home  now  ?  " 

"  They've    gone    home,"   he    answered ;    "  and 
we'll  go  home  too,  some  day." 

The  only  people  who  did  not  like  Dick  were 
Uncle  Tom  and  Aunt  Maria.  Uncle  Tom  was 
Colonel  Lucas's  younger  brother,  and  he  had  always 
been  the  steady,  hard-working,  industrious  one ; 
and,  while  the  Colonel  was  extravagant  and  reckless 
and  wild,  and  got  into  debt  over  aW  over  again, 

Uncle  Tom  was  always  quiet  and  well-behaved  and 

J 
never  gave  old  Mr.  Lucas  any  trouble,-^nd  married 

Aunt  Maria,  who  was  a  good  deal  older  than  him- 
self and  had  a  large  fortune.  Uncle  Tom  had  been 
a  partner  in  the  bank  for  some  years,  and  was  very 
well  off,  and  had  a  very  elegant  house  in  Regent's 
Park  and  two  little  girls,  whom  Letty  and  Sybil  cor- 
dially disliked,  as  they  were  very  prim  and  well-be- 
haved, and  were  constantly  held  up  as  examples  of 
lady-like  conduct  by  nurse  and  Martha.  But  as 
Uncle  Tom  was  so  rich  and  comfortable,  it  seemed 
very  strange  that  he  should  have  been  so  displeased 
when  his  father  offered  to  have  Dick  to  live  with 


"  THE  POOR,  OLD  GRANDPA  THER."         1 1 

him,  for  the  Colonel  had  very  little  money,  and  had 
married  a  wife  without  a  penny,  though  she  was 
beautiful  and  good.  But  nevertheless  Uncle  Tom 
seemed  to  grudge  every  penny  that  was  spent  on  the 
boy's  education,  and  he  was  quite  angry  at  the  idea 
of  his  being  sent  to  Oxford.  He  never  ventured  to 
say  anything  to  the  old  man  about  it,  but  he  showed 
what  he  felt  to  Dick  plainly  enough)  and  nothing 
made  him  so  furious  as  when  any  one  spoke  of  Dick 
as  his  grandfather's  heir. 

But  to  go  back  to  the  day  that  the  old  man  died. 
Dick  was  telegraphed  for ;  but  as  he  was  away  from 
Oxford  that  day,  he  did  not  get  the  message  till  the 
afternoon,  and  it  was  quite  the  evening  before  he 
came  into  the  nursery  with  such  a  real  look  of  sorrow 
in  his  face  that  the  children  were  'eartless  no  longer, 
but  ran  to  him  crying  and  clung  round  his  neck 
sobbing.  They  had  never  seen  any  one  grown  up 
cry  before,  for  their  mother's  tears  at  parting  had 
been  hidden  away  under  smiles  that  were  a  hundred 
times  more  sad,  and  as  for  nurse's  sniffing  behind 
her  apron,  they  were  not  taken  in  by  that ;  but  the 
little  choke  in  Dick's  voice  as  he  said,  "  The  poor,  old 
grandfather,"  touched  the  hearts  that  nurse  had 
thought  so  very  hard  and  unfeeling. 


12  TIP  CAT. 

They  sat  all  cuddled  up  together  in  the  rocking 
chair,  just  as  they  had  done  when  the  news  came 
from  India  that  their  father  and  mother  had  gone 
home,  only  the  arms  that  clung  round  Dick's  neck 
were  longer,  and  there  was  down  on  the  cheeks 
against  which  the  children's  pressed. 

Uncle  Tom  had  come  in  the  morning,  and  had 
stood  by  the  nursery  table,  where  Letty  and  Sybil 
had  been  arranging  the  Noah's  Ark  animals  in  pairs 
to  follow  the  funeral  of  one  of  the  elephants,  whom 
nurse  had  stepped  on  and  fatally  injured  in  the  morn- 
ing. He  leant  his  hands  on  the  table  and  kept  sway- 
ing backwards  and  forwards,  and  the  children  were 
so  afraid  that  he  would  upset  the  giraffes,  who  were 
very  unsteady  on  their  feet,  that  they  did  not  pay 
much  attention  to  what  he  said  about  afflictive  dis- 
pensations and  decrees  of  Providence. 

In  the  afternoon  Aunt  Maria  arrived,  and  was 
present  when  the  milliner  came  to  take  orders  for 
the  mourning,  much  to  nurse's  irritation.  It  was  as 
much  as  either  nurse  or  the  milliner  could  do  to 
answer  civilly  when  Aunt  Maria  insisted  on  modera- 
tion in  the  depth  of  crape  and  the  quality  of  para- 
matta, when,  as  nurse  remarked  in  an  aside  to  the 
milliner,  "  It's  the  poor  little  dears'  own  Gran'pa, 


"THE  POOR,  OLD  GRANDFATHER!"          13 

and  made  of  money  !  "  to  which  the  milliner  replied, 
with  a  sigh,  "  Yes,  poor  dear  gentleman." 

But  though  nurse  managed  to  restrain  her  feelings 
in  the  nursery,  it  was  a  different  matter  when  Aunt 
Maria  went  downstairs  to  speak  about  the  servants' 
mourning,  and  there  was  a  regular  scene  with  Mrs. 
Treasure,  the  cook-housekeeper,  who  had  ruled 
supreme  for  twenty  years,  and  knew  to  a  halfpenny 
the  amount  that  propriety  demanded  should  be  spent 
on  servants'  mourning  in  well-regulated  establish- 
ments. This  was  not  the  first  time  that  she  and 
Aunt  Maria  had  had  a  battle  royal,  as  that  lady  had 
felt  herself  called  upon,  more  than  once,  to  enter  a 
protest  against  the  reckless  extravagance  that  ruled 
in  the  kitchen  in  Bedford  Place,  but  had,  on  each 
occasion,  been  obliged  to  retire  before  Mrs.  Treas- 
ure's determined  front ;  and  when  she  appealed  to 
the  master  of  the  house,  a  very  absent-minded  grunt 
was  all  she  got  out  of  him  after  nearly  half  an  hour's 
solemn  accusation,  and  only  Dick,  who  was  present 
on  the  occasion,  saw  a  little  twinkle  in  the  old  man's 
eye  when  the  discomfited  lady  took  her  departure, 
which  showed  that  he  had  not  been  altogether  so  in- 
attentive as  Aunt  Maria  had  thought. 

To-day,  however,  Mrs.  Treasure  was  not  so  entire- 


14  TIP  CAT. 

ly  self-possessed  as  on  former  occasions,  so  that 
she  did  not  reply  to  Mrs.  Tom  Lucas  with  the  "  Yes, 
mum,"  "  No,  mum,"  "  Really,  mum,"  which  were 
almost  as  inscrutable  and  irritating  as  her  master's 
grunts.  She  had  been  really  overcome  by  the  sud- 
den death  of  her  old  master,  whom  she  had  served 
faithfully  according  to  her  lights,  at  any  rate  not  al- 
lowing any  one  else  to  rob  him,  and  you  might,  as 
the  children  heard  her  tell  nurse,  have  knocked  her 
down  with  a  feather,  which  expression  impressed 
them  strongly,  as  Mrs.  Treasure  was  a  very  substantial 
person,  standing  peculiarly  square  and  firm  on  her 
feet.  So,  on  this  occasion,  she  forgot  herself  and 
the  character  she  was  bound  to  keep  up  before  "  the 
gals,"  who  were  listening  giggling  behind  the  pantry 
door,  and  she  gave  Aunt  Maria  a  piece  of  her  mind, 
and  told  her  that  now  the  old  master  was  gone,  they 
looked  to  Mr.  Dick  as  their  master,  and  they  "  wouldn't 
stand  any  interference,  were  it  ever  so,"  at  which 
Aunt  Maria  turned  a  pale  green,  and  swept  out  of 
the  kitchen  with  as  much  dignity  as  she  could  com- 
mand, leaving  Mrs.  Treasure  to  subside  into  hysterics 
on  one  of  the  kitchen  chairs,  which  lasted  so  long, 
and  required  such  constant  attention  from  her  sym- 
pathising fellow-servants,  with  smelling-salts  and 


"THE  POOR,  OLD  GRANDFATHER!"         15 

burnt  feathers,  and  patting  the  palms  of  her  hands, 
and  applying  water  outwardly  and  peppermint  inward- 
ly to  bring  her  to,  that  nurse  and  Martha  were  both 
called  down  to  help  in  the  difficult  process  of  restora- 
tion, and  that  was  how  it  was  that  Letty  and  Sybil 
were  alone  in  the  nursery  when  Dick  came  in. 

I  think  it  was  the  news  of  his  arrival  that  ultimately 
roused  Mrs.  Treasure,  and  nothing  would  do  but 
that  she  must  prepare  dinner  for  him  with  her  own 
hands.  "  As  sha'n't  feel  no  difference  if  I  can  help 
it,  and  always  liked  curry  from  a  child,  bless  him  !  " 
Jenkins  too  bustled  about,  fetching  up  choice  wine 
from  the  cellar  and  laying  the  dinner  with  its  usual 
pompous  accessories  of  solid  plate  and  old-fashioned 
cut  glass  in  the  gloomy  dining-room,  where  evening 
after  evening  the  old  grandfather  had  dined  by  him- 
self in  solitary  state. 

But  Dick  sat  with  the  children  in  the  nursery,  only 
lighted  by  the  big,  blazing  fire,  which  shone  on  the 
robins  on  the  wall-paper  and  the  colored  pictures 
from  the  Illustrated  pinned  on  the  walls,  and  on  the 
doll's  house  in  the  corner,  with  Noah's  ark  standing 
on  the  top  of  it,  and  by  and  by,  when  Martha  came 
running  up  to  put  on  the  kettle  for  tea — for  tea 
time  had  been  quite  forgotten  in  the  prevailing  ex- 


1 6  TIP  CAT. 

citement  in  the  house — Dick  asked  them  to  bring  his 
dinner  up  there,  and  he  and  the  children  had  quite 
a  merry  tea  dinner  after  all,  when  their  eyes  were 
dried ;  for  Dick  did  not  seem  to  think  it  wrong  to 
laugh,  or  expect  every  one  to  speak  very  low,  and 
sigh  at  the  end  of  each  sentence,  as  nurse  did. 


READING  THE  WILL.  17 


CHAPTER  II. 

READING   THE   WILL. 

DURING  the  four  days  that  passed  after  their 
grandfather's  death  and  before  the  funeral,  the  chil- 
dren saw  very  little  of  Dick.  There  was  a  great  deal 
to  be  arranged,  and  every  one  turned  to  Dick  for 
directions.  Mr.  Murchison,  the  lawyer,  was  there 
every  day  with  Dick  and  Uncle  Tom,  looking  through 
the  papers  in  the  library.  Mr.  Murchison  was  an 
old  friend  of  Mr.  Lucas's,  and  used  often  to  come 
and  dine  with  him,  and  he  was  fond  of  Dick  and  kind 
to  the  little  girls,  for  whom  he  brought  little,  oblong, 
wooden  boxes  of  rose  lozenges,  and  whom  he  had 
now  and  then  to  tea  in  his  chambers  in  Bedford 
Row. 

But  this  week  the  children  thought  he  was  not  at 
all  nice  or  pleasant,  when  by  chance  they  came 
across  him,  for  he  hardly  took  any  notice  of  them, 


1 8  TIP  CAT. 

and  would  not  look  at  a  gutta-percha  face  they  had 
bought,  just  because  it  was  like  one  of  his  clerks. 
He  seemed  in  a  great  fuss  and  anxiety,  and  Dick  too 
got  to  look  troubled,  though  he  did  not  tell  the  little 
girls  the  reason  when  he  came,  as  he  always  did, 
into  the  nursery  in  the  evening.  But  servants  always 
know  what  is  going  on  in  a  house  in  some  mysterious 
way,  without  intentional  prying  or  eavesdropping, 
and  it  was  soon  generally  known  in  the  house  that 
old  Mr.  Lucas's  will  could  not  be  found,  and  that 
unless  it  was,  all  the  money  would  go  to  Uncle  Tom, 
and  Dick  would  have  nothing. 

Though  Letty  and  Sybil  heard  nurse  talking 
about  it,  they  did  not  at  all  understand  what  it  would 
mean  to  them  and  Dick,  but  they  felt  the  relief  when, 
the  day  before  the  funeral,  they  heard  the  library 
door  open  and  Mr.  Murchison's  voice  raised  in  much 
more  cheerful  tones  than  it  had  been,  and  Dick's 
answering  in  the  same  key. 

The  nursery  door  was  open  and  the  house  so  quiet 
that  the  children  could  hear  quite  plainly  what  they 
said. 

"Well,  that's  a  comfort!  I  began  to  think  it 
might  have  been  destroyed,  which  would  have  been 
a  mighty  bad  job  for  you,  Master  Dick.  That's  your 


READING  THE  WILL.  19 

grandfather  all  over,  a  good  man  of  business  as  ever 
lived,  poor  fellow ;  fastened  up  and  dated  and  dock- 
eted '  My  last  Will  and  Testament.'  Oh,  I  know 
well  enough  all  about  it,  for  I  drew  it  myself.  I'll 
call  in  on  my  way  to  the  office  and  tell  Mr.  Tom  that 
it's  come  to  hand." 

And  then  Dick  came  springing  upstairs,  three 
steps  at  a  time,  with  a  slackening  of  pace  as  he 
passed  the  door  of  that  silent  room,  and  came  into 
the  nursery  with  his  face  beaming  free  of  all  the 
trouble  that  had  gathered  there  before. 

"  It's  all  right,"  he  said,  "it's  found,"  as  if  he  had 
told  the  little  girls  all  about  the  missing  will,  and  the 
search  for  it ;  and  they  did  not  pretend  not  to  under- 
stand, but  were  as  glad  as  he  was  about  if. 

Dick  talked  more  that  evening  than  he  had  ever 
done  before  of  what  he  meant  to  do.  The  clvldren 
had  imagined  that  Dick  would  step  at  once  into 
grandfather's  place,  and  live  always  in  Bedford  Place, 
and  go  every  day  to  the  bank,  only  not  stop  there  so 
long  as  grandfather,  but  come  in  soon  enough  to  take 
them  out.  They  had  made  up  their  minds  that  they 
would  dine  late  every  day  with  Dick,  and  that  most 
likely  they  should  go  once  a  week  at  least,  if  not 
every  day,  to  the  pantomime,  and  quite  as  often  to 


20  TIP  CAT. 

the  Zoological  Gardens.  So  they  were  a  little  dis- 
appointed when  he  said  that  he  should  go  back  to 
Oxford,  perhaps  as  soon  as  next  week,  and  that  he 
thought  he  should  try  and  find  some  place  in  the 
country  where  Letty  and  Sybil  could  go  with  nurse 
and  Martha,  and  where  he  could  come  whenever  he 
could  get  away,  for  he  would  not  be  parted  for  long 
together  from  his  little  sisters  ;  and  when  Oxford  was 
done  with,  and  he  came  back  to  London  and  was 
called  to  the  Bar,  they  should  all  live  together  again, 
and  Letty  and  Sybil  should  keep  house  for  brother 
Dick. 

It  did  not  quite  satisfy  the  children's  minds,  as  it 
was  too  far  in  the  future,  and  Dick  also  mentioned 
governesses  and  masters  as  part  of  the  programme  ; 
but  when  they  had  arranged  some-  of  the  details  of 
the  future  establishment,  and  had  settled  that  Letty 
should  have  the  keys  because  she  was  the  eldest,  but 
that  they  should  take  it  by  turns  to  pour  out  Dick's 
coffee  and  sit  at  the  end  of  the  table,  and  that  they 
would  not  both  go  out  with  him  always,  because  it 
was  nicer  going  in  a  hansom  than  a  four-wheeler,  the 
prospect  grew  very  attractive  and  did  not  seem  so 
very  distant  after  all. 

Next  day  was  the  funeral,  and,  as  I  have  said, 


READING  THE  WILL.  21 

Letty  and  Sybil  were  not  allowed  to  watch  it  from 
the  nursery  windows,  nor  to  open  the  nursery  door 
and  look  over  the  banisters  to  catch  a  glimpse  of 
anything  passing  below.  Uncle  Tom  and  Dick  were 
the  chief  mourners,  and  there  were  some  cousins 
and  nephews  of  the  old  man,  and  some  old  friends 
and  the  doctor,  and  Mr.  Murchison. 

There  seemed  a  smell  everywhere  of  black  kid 
gloves  and  crape,  and  the  little  girls  sat  up  very  stiff 
in  their  black  frocks,  which,  in  spite  of  Aunt  Maria's 
injunctions  of  moderation,  displayed  as  deep  a  woe 
as  crape  could  express,  and  were  so  stiff  and  rough 
to  the  hands  and  round  the  throat  that  they  certainly" 
did  not  represent  the  luxury  of  woe. 

After  the  funeral  had  been  gone  about  half  an 
hour,  and  when  it  was  too  late  to  see  anything  of  it, 
the  blinds  were  drawn  up  in  all  the  rooms,  making 
everything  look  coarse  and  glaring  after  the  subdued 
half-light  they  had  been  seen  in  during  the  last  few 
days. 

The  children  were  hungry,  and  as  they  heard 
symptoms  of  luncheon  being  laid  in  the  dining-room, 
and  nurse  was  out  of  the  way,  they  thought  they 
would  go  for  a  voyage  of  discovery.  The  door  of 
their  grandfather's  room  was  open,  and  they  stopped 


22  TIP  CAT. 

and  looked  in.  Dick  had  done  all  he  could  to  prevent 
the  children  having  an  unreasonable  terror  of  death, 
and  nurse  had  done  all  she  could  to  give  them  that 
terror ;  and  they  took  hold  of  each  other's  hands  as 
they  looked  in  with  a  sort  of  awe.  They  had  often 
been  in  there  before  in  the  old  man's  life  time,when  he 
was  not  there,  and  now  it  was  just  the  same  as  it  had 
always  been :  all  the  furniture  unaltered  and  in  the 
same  places,  and  yet  the  room  looked  empty,  as  it 
had  never  looked  before,  and  the  children  ran  on 
with  a  wish  to  escape  from  the  emptiness  that  only 
death  can  leave,  and  to  be  nearer  the  life  that 
sounded  from  below  with  the  cheerful  clinking  of 
glass  and  china,  and  opening  doors  and  brisk  foot- 
steps. 

But  they  had  only  just  reached  the  dining-room, 
and  had  only  given  one  rapid  survey  of  the  table,  and 
had  not  had  time  to  help  themselves  even  to  one  of 
the  little,  round  dinner-rolls  perched  on  the  top  of 
each  of  the  mitre-shaped  dinner-napkins,  when  a  cab 
drove  up  to  the  door,  and  Aunt  Maria's  face  appear- 
ing at  the  cab  window  sent  them  hurrying  upstairs 
again  and  past  the  open,  empty  room  without  a 
thought  of  its  awfulness. 

So  they  had  to  wait  patiently  till  nurse  brought  up 


READING  THE  WILL.  23 

their  dinner,  and  told  them  that  luncheon  was  going 
on  iu  the  dining-room,  and  that  when  it  was  over  the 
will  was  to  be  read  in  the  library. 

"  Shall  we  go  down  ?  "  asked  Letty  ;  but  nurse 
shook  her  head  and  said  that  little  girls  were  not 
wanted  on  such  occasions.  But  she  was  wrong,  for 
the  little  girls  had  only  just  said  their  grace  and  taken 
off  their  pinafores,  when  Dick  came  up  to  fetch  them, 
and  they  went  down,  each  holding  one  of  his  hands, 
which  made  it  rather  a  squeeze  to  get  down  stairs. 

He  was  looking  a  little  bit  vexed  and  worried. 
Some  of  the  nephews  and  cousins  who  came  to  the 
funeral  were  poor,  and  could  not  help,  poor  souls, 
feeling  a  little  envious  of  Dick,  with  whom  life 
seemed  going  so  much  more  smoothly  than  it  ever 
had  done  with  them,  and  now  and  then  through  lun- 
cheon, a  word  or  a  look  would  show  what  they  felt, 
and  wounded  Dick's  kind,  gentle  heart  that  would 
have  made  the  whole  world  rich  and  happy  and  good 
if  he  could. 

In  the  library  they  were  all  assembled  when  Dick 
and  his  little  sisters  came  in.  There  was  an- 
other lady  present  beside  Aunt  Maria.  t  A  niece  of 
old  Mr.  Lucas,  a  depressed,  rather  mouldy-looking 
widow,  who  sniffed  at  any  pause  in  the  conversa- 


24  TIP  CAT. 

tion  and  echoed  all  Aunt  Maria's  opinions  almost 
before  she  had  heard  what  they  were.  Aunt  Maria 
sat  very  upright  in  an  arm-chair,  and  beckoned  to 
the  children  to  come  to  her  when  they  came  in  ;  but 
they  pretended  not  to  see  her  signal,  but  followed 
Dick  to  his  chair  rather  behind  Mr.  Murchison,  who 
sat  up  to  the  table  with  some  papers  before  him. 
Mrs.  Treasure  and  Jenkins  were  also  there,  Mrs. 
Treasure  resplendent  in  creaking  mourning,  with  her 
handkerchief  in  her  hand  and  with  eyes  that  care- 
fully avoided  Aunt  Maria,  though  she  sat  directly 
opposite.  Uncle  Tom  sat  on  the  other  side  of  Mr. 
Murchison,  looking  rather  sulky,  and  as  the  children 
looked  from  one  face  to  another  of  the  assembled 
company,  they  all  appeared  to  them  cross,  or  dull,  or 
tired,  or  sad,  all  except  Dick,  who  smiled  and  put 
his  arms  round  his  little  sisters  as  they  stood  on 
either  side  of  him,  while  Mr.  Murchison,  after  a  few 
remarks,  began  with  slow,  precise  fingers  to  break 
the  seals  of  the  paper  in  his  hand  and  untie  the  red 
tape  with  which  it  was  fastened. 

"  Our  old  friend,"  he  said,  "  was  always  a  good  man 
of  business,  a  capital  man  of  business,  the  order  and 
arrangement  of  his  papers  might  really  be  an  ex- 
ample to  many  of  us,  eh,  master  Dick  ?  And  when 
he  gave  me  instructions  for  the  will,  by  Jove,  sir,  a 


READING  THE  WILL.  25 

lawyer  himself  could  not  have  done  it  better,  though 
I  say  it.  To  be  sure  it  was  simple  enough,  but  he 
had  thought  of  everything,  and  nothing,  had  escaped 
his  memory.  It  was  really  quite  a  treat  to  do  busi- 
ness with  such  a  man."  And  here  Mr.  Murchison 
drew  the  paper  out  of  the  covering  and  began  unfold- 
ing the  sheet  of  foolscap,  with  a  little  glance  round 
at  the  attentive  faces  whose  eyes  watched  every 
movement.  "  He  was  certainly  the  best  man  of 

bus ,"  and  here  he  suddenly  stopped,    and  his 

mouth  dropped  open  with  a  jerk,  and  his  eyebrows 
rose,  giving  his  eyes,  for  once,  a  chance  of  looking  out, 
without  being  obscured  by  shaggy,  grey  hair,  which 
they  did,  though  his  double  eye-glasses  fell  from  the 
bridge  of  his  nose  with  a  resounding  thud  on  the 
paper  which  made  every  one  start.  And  then  he  got 
up  from  his  chair  and  settled  his  eye-glasses  again 
on  his  nose  with  a  hand  that  trembled,  and  he  turned 
to  the  window  as  if  to  get  more  light  on  the  subject. 
There  was  not  much  light  to  be  sure  in  the  room, 
but  there  was  too  much  on  the  foolscap  paper  to 
allow  any  doubt  even  for  a  second.  There  was  no 
signature  to  the  will. 

It  was  Dick  who  said  it  first,  his  arms  tightened 
round  his  little  sisters  for  a  moment  and  then  he 
spoke,  "  It  is  not  signed." 


26  TIP  CAT, 

There  was  a  moment's  silence  and  then  a  voice  from 
the  other  side  of  the  room  said,  "  Then  it  is  worth 
nothing."  It  was  Aunt  Maria,  and  Mrs.  Bush,  the 
depressed  widow,  hastened  to  echo  the  words, 
"  Then  it  is  worth "  but  was  frightened  into  si- 
lence by  the  glare  with  which  Mr.  Murchison  turned 
round  on  her. 

Then  he  went  back  to  that  useless  examination 
turning  and  twisting  the  paper  as  if  he  did  not  know 
(who  better  ?)  that  without  the  signature  the  will  was 
not  worth  the  paper  it  was  written  on.  There  was 
the  sort  of  silence  just  then  which  people  describe 
as  one  in  which  you  could  hear  a  pin  drop,  but  Dick 
broke  it.  He  put  Letty  and  Sybil  gently  away  from 
him  and  stood  up,  and  his  face  was  very  white  and 
did  not  look  as  young  as  it  had  done  a  minute  ago, 
and  his  voice  was  a  little  husky. 

"  Of  course,"  he  said,  "  it  is  worth  nothing  if  it 
is  not  signed,  and  we  must  ask  Mr.  Murchison  to 
read  the  other  will,  which  will  hold  good  now." 

But  Mr.  Murchison  could  not  take  it  as  calmly  as 
Dick  appeared  to  do  ;  any  one  to  look  at  him  might 
have  thought  that  it  was  he  who  had  lost  a  large 
inheritance  for  want  of  a  few  shaky  lines  of  an  old 
man's  writing. 


READING  THE  WILL.  27 

"  It's  a  mistake,"  he  said,  "  the  most  extraordi- 
nary mistake  I  ever  knew  in  my  life.  Mr.  Tom,  I 
never  thought  your  father  was  failing  in  mind  before, 
but  he  must  have  been.  And  to  think  that  he  should 
have  kept  the  old  will  when  he  knew  as  well  as  I  do 
that  it  was  waste  paper  as  soon  as  another  was  made. 
Oh,  what  fools  people  are  !  "  the  old  lawyer  burst 
out,  flinging  down  the  unsigned  will  and  running  his 
fingers  through  his  gray  hair  as  if  he  would  tear  it 
out. 

Uncle  Tom  sat  rubbing  one  fat  hand  over  the  other 
and  staring  vacantly  before  him  with  his  mouth  in  a 
whistling  position,  while  the  eyes  of  all  the  others 
were  fixed  on  the  lawyer  with  various  expressions. 

Dick  had  sat  down  again,  and  his  hands,  which  the 
children  held,  were  cold,  and  his  lips  dry,  but  he  said, 
"  We  had  better  hear  the  old  will,  sir." 

The  old  will  had  been  found  pushed  away  in  a 
pigeon-hole  in  the  library,  with  some  old  diaries  and 
letters  of  no  value  except  as  recalling  old  times  ;  it 
was  discblored  and  dirty,  and  there  was  a  splash  of 
ink  on  the  back,  and  the  ink  had  grown  pale  in  the 
twenty-two  years  that  had  passed  since  it  was 
written. 

Mr.  Murchison  had  drawn  that   too,  and  remem- 


28  TIP  CAT. 

* 

bered  the  time\well,  before  Dick  was  born  and  when 
the  old  man  had  just  paid  off  Captain  Lucas's  debts 
for  the  third  time,  and  declared  it  should  be  the  last 
penny  the  ungrateful,  extravagant  son  should  get  out 
of  him,  and  that  all  he  had  should  go  to  Tom,  who 
had  never  given  him  half  an  hour's  trouble  or  anxiety 
in  his  life,  "  or  pleasure  either,"  the  old  man  had 
added  in  one  of  his  rare  moments  of  confidence,  with 
a  smile  and  a  sigh  for  the  scapegrace  son  whom  he 
loved  in  spite  of  all.  Mr.  Murchison's  hand  shook 
as  he  unfolded  the  old  paper,  and  his  voice  was  so 
unsteady  in  reading  it  that  Aunt  Maria  had  to  lean 
forward  and  put  her  hand  to  her  ear  to  catch  the  full 
significance  of  the  words  that  bequeathed  all  the  old 
man's  real  and  personal  estate  to  his  dear  son 
Thomas  Lucas.  There  were  a  few  small  legacies, 
and  io/.  to  each  of  the  servants  in  his  service  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  Mrs.  Treasure  and  Jenkins  had 
been  young  servants  then,  but  they  were  old  when 
that  unsigned  will  had  been  drawn,  and  their  master 
had  left  them  a  handsome  legacy  each,  but'  now  they 
were  entitled  to  no  more  than  little  Lucy,  the  kitchen 
maid,  who  had  only  been  in  the  place  three  weeks. 
I  think  they  felt  it  more,  or  perhaps  realized  it  more, 
even  than  Dick  did,  and  Mrs.  Treasure  lost  all  her 


READING  THE  WILL.  29 

portly  defiance  of  manner,  and  went  out  of  the  room 
looking  quite  shabby  and  old  and  stooping,  followed 
by  Jenkins,  who  went  off  to  the  pantry  and  then  and 
there  got  tipsy  in  cold  blood,  a  thing  he  had  never 
done  in  his  life  before. 

When  Mr.  Murchison  had  finished  reading  he  sat 
quite  still,  leaning  back  in  his  chair,  and  Dick  also 
said  nothing  while  the  cousins  and  nephews  edged 
their  chairs  nearer  to  one  another  and  began  talking' 
in  under-tones,  with  glances  towards  Uncle  Tom  and 
Dick. 

And  then  Uncle  Tom,  who  had  been  fidgeting  his 
feet  and  clearing  his  throat  nervously  for  some  min- 
utes, got  up  and  leaned  across  the  table  to  Dick. 

"  Dick,"  he  said,  "  it  shan't  make  any  difference 
to  you,  my  boy.  We  know  what  he  meant  to  do  for 
you,  and " 

But  just  then  Aunt  Maria  came  in  between,  and 
Uncle  Tom's  outstretched  hand  dropped  to  his  side 
and  his  voice  died  away.  She  was  tying  her  bonnet- 
strings  and  buttoning  her  cloak. 

"  It  is  getting  late,  Tom,"  she  said,  "  and  we  must 
be  going  home.  I  think  we  had  better  take  a  night 
to  consider  what  it  is  right  to  do  under  the  circum- 
stances. Good-by,  Dick.  Good-by,  little  girls." 


30  TIP  CA  T. 

She  kissed  Letty  before  the  child  saw  what  she 
was  going  to  do,  but  Sybil  saw  what  was  coming,  and 
ducked  her  head  so  as  to  receive  Aunt  Maria's  peck 
on  the  back  of  her  neck.  She  stood  a  minute  at  the 
door  while  Uncle  Tom  fumbled  under  the  table  for 
his  gloves,  and  she  looked  round  the  room  with  a 
glance  of  proprietorship  that  struck  even  the  children 
as  something  new,  as  if  it  all  belonged  to  her,  Sybil 
said  ;  and  she  examined  a  spot  of  grease  on  the 
bookcase  and  rubbed  it  off,  just  as  she  would  have 
done  at  home,  and  she  felt  the  material  of  the  thick 
curtain  over  the  door  as  if  to  see  what  it  might  fetch. 

Dick  got  up  with  his  usual  courtesy  to  show  her 
out  and  put  her  into  the  cab,  having  always  been 
used  in  his  grandfather's  time  to  act  the  host,  but 
to-day  Aunt  Maria  did  not  appear  to  notice  his  offer 
of  politeness,  and  the  color  rushed  up  into  Dick's 
face,  at  this  first  hint,  that  he  was  no  longer  master 
in  the  old  house. 

The  sympathy  he  met  with  from  the  cousins  was 
almost  more  painful,  and  when  one  of  them  declared 
that  he  had  been  shamefully  treated,  and  that  the  old 
man  must  have  been  a  lunatic,  and  that  if  he  were 
Dick  he  would  go  to  law  about  it  and  have  his  rights, 
Dick  could  hardly  resist  kicking  him,  but  he  forbore, 


READING  THE  WILL.  31 

and  only  said  that  his  grandfather  was  the  best  and 
wisest  man  he  knew,  and  the  poor  cousin  went  home 
more  contented  with  the  little,  shabby  house  at  Cam- 
berwell,  and  the  anxious  wife  and  six  children  who 
made  such  a  pitiful  struggle  to  be  genteel  on  ^150 
a  year,  compared  with  the  prospects  of  the  young 
fellow  who  had  suddenly  exchanged  riches  for  pov- 
erty. Mr.  Murchison's  grim  silence  was  much  more 
soothing  to  poor  Dick,  but  even  he  soon  took  his  de- 
parture, and  the  little  girls  went  up  to  the  nursery  to 
tea,  and  Dick  was  left  alone. 


32  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  III. 

A    SORE    HEART. 

DICK  did  not  come  up  to  the  nursery  tea  that 
evening  as  he  generally  did,  and  nurse  insisted  on 
the  children  going  to  bed  early,  principally  because 
she  wanted  to  join  the  conclave  in  the  kitchen,  who 
were  discussing  the  events  of  the  day.  There  was 
not  one  of  the  servants  who  was  not  heartily  sorry 
for  Dick  and  the  two  little  girls,  a  great  deal  more 
sorry  for  the  children  than  they  were  for  themselves, 
for  they  did  not  understand  all  the  difference  that 
missing  signature  made  to  them  ;  but  in  spite  of  the 
servants'  pity  there  was  somehow  an  alteration  in 
their  behavior  that  the  children  felt  without  under- 
standing it.  I  do  not  think  that  Letty  and  Sybil 
would  have  been  shuffled  off  to  bed  an  hour  earlier 
than  usual  if  the  will  had  been  different,  and  when 
Sybil  said  she  was  thirsty  and  asked  for  some  milk, 
nurse  said  there  was  none  up  stairs,  and  gave  her 


A  SORE  HEART.  33 

some  water,  instead  of  sending  Martha  down   for 
some. 

It  was  just  the  same  with  Dick.  They  were  all  so 
fond  of  him  and  so  sorry  for  him,  but  the  feeling 
that  he  was  no  longer  the  young  master  crept  unin- 
tentionally into  all  they  did,  and  perhaps  he  was 
unusually  sensitive  just  then,  and  noticed  little  things 
he  would  not  have  thought  of  in  former  days  ;  but 
the  tears  came  pricking  into  his  eyes  when  there 
was  no  spoon  put  for  him  to  eat  his  soup  with  at 
dinner,  and  when  the  potatoes  were  burnt,  though 
he  was  never  one  to  think  much  of  state  and  for- 
mality, or  to  care  about  little  niceties  of  food  or  cook- 
ery, and  he  had  more  than  a  suspicion  that  poor  old 
Jenkins  had  been  taking  more  than  was  good  for 
him,  and  that  Mrs  Treasure  was  hysterical,  which 
would  account  for  everything. 

I  suppose  it  was  because  the  children  had  gone 
to  bed  earlier  than  usual  that  Letty  and  Sybil  could 
not  sleep,  and,  after  a  while,  Sybil  came  stealing 
across  and  got  into  Letty's  bed,  and  they  talked 
with  all  the  more  satisfaction  because  they  knew  that 
talking  after  they  were  in  bed  was  strictly  forbidden. 
But  there  was  no  one  to  hear  them,  for  nurse  and 
Martha  were  both  down  stairs  ;  and  by  and  by  Sybil 


34  TIP   CAT. 

fancied  that  the  kitten  had  got  at  nurse's  work-basket 
and  was  tangling  the  reels  of  cotton  ;  so  the  children 
felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  get  up  and  put  a  stop  to  such 
reckless  havoc  as  pussy  was  sure  to  work,  and  when 
they  got  into  the  day-nursery,  though  they  found 
nothing  of  the  sort  going  on,  and  that  much  maligned 
animal  fast  asleep  in  front  of  the  fire,  still  they  did 
not  return  forthwith  to  bed,  but  drew  their  little 
chairs  up  to  the  fender,  and  warmed  their  toes  with 
the  delightful  feeling  that  they  were  doing  something 
utterly  unallowable. 

"  You  see,"  said  Sybil,  "  we  can  get  back  into  bed 
directly  we  hear  nurse  coming  upstairs." 

The  house  was  very  quiet,  and  the  children  soon 
grew  tired  of  sitting  by  the  fire,  and  felt  disposed 
for  further  adventures. 

"  I  wonder  where  Dick  is,"  Letty  said,  "  and  why 
he  did  not  come  and  talk  to  us  this  evening  ?  but  I 
daresay  he  would  if  nurse  had  not  made  us  go  to 
bed." 

"  I  wish  he  would  come  now,"  said  Sybil.  "  Oh, 
Letty !  let's  go  and  find  him.  I  dare  say  he's  in  the 
library,  and  very  dull  all  by  himself,  and  thinks  we're 
asleep.  Nurse  won't  know.  We'll  creep  down  on 
tiptoe,  and  make  Dick  come  up  here  with  us." 


A  SORE  HEART.  35 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  They  found  their 
dressing-gowns  and  little  slippers,  and  because  Sybil 
thought  that  the  kitten  would  be  frightened  at  being 
left  all  alone,  they  took  her  with  them.'  They  passed 
the  door  of  -their  grandfather's  bedroom  very  fast, 
for  it  was  a  little  way  open,  and  Letty  fancied  she 
heard  a  sound  inside,  and  was  not  sure  there  was  not 
light  shining  through  the  crack. 

But  when  they  reached  the  library  they  found,  to 
their  disappointment,  that  Dick  was  not  there.  He 
must  have  been  sitting  there,  for  there  was  a  news- 
paper lying  by  the  arm-chair  and  some  letters  in 
Dick's  writing  on  the  table,  but  he  was  not  there. 
Neither  was  he  in  the  dining-room,  where  the  re- 
mains of  dinner  were  still  spread  on  the  table. 

"  Perhaps  he  has  gone  out,"  whispered  Sybil. 

But  no  ;  there  was  his  hat  in  the  hall. 

"  Can  he  have  gone  to  bed  so  early  ?  " 

Dick's  bedroom  was  on  the  same  floor  as  old  Mr. 
Lucass,'  and  just  as  they  got  to  his  door,  pussy, 
who  had  been  struggling  a  good  deal  all  the  way, 
escaped  from  Sybil's  hold  and  ran  right  into  the  old 
man's  room  ;  and  before  the  children  had  time  to 
think  what  they  were  about,  they  had  followed  her  in. 
There  was  some  one  there,  and  they  stood  thunder 


36  TIP  CAT. 

struck,  hardly  knowing  if  nurse  or  a  ghost  were  most 
to  be  feared  or  expected,  and  Dick  (for  it  was  he) 
looking  up,  saw  two  little  things  in  scarlet  dressing 
gowns,  with  rough  heads  and  big,  round  eyes  staring 
at  him  aghast.  And  well  they  might,  for  Dick  looked 
up  at  them  with  a  face  that  was  not  a  bit  like  the 
Dick  they  knew  and  loved — the  bright,  happy,  trust- 
ing Dick,  fearless  and  frank. 

His  candle  stood  on  the  toilet-table,  guttering, 
with  a  thief  in  it,  and  he  was  sitting  with  his  arms 
stretched  out  across  the  table  and  his  head  on  his 
arms,  and  behind  was  the  window  with  the  blind 
drawn  up  all  crooked,  showing  the  foggy  night  out- 
side and"  the  dark  houses  opposite,  giving  an  unut- 
terably dreary  effect  to  the  room.  His  face  was  quite 
of  a  piece  with  the  room  ;  so  sad  and  hopeless,  and 
set  and  grey  :  but  it  cleared  and  altered  in  a  moment 
— the  moment  he  saw  his  little  sisters — and  he  held 
out  his  arms  and  they  rushed  into  them. 

"  Oh,  Dick !  we've  been  looking  for  you  every- 
where ;  oh,  Dick,  come  away  from  this  horrid  room  ; 
come  into  the  nursery." 

"All  right,"  he  said,  "you  two  little  scarlet  ghosts. 
They  told  me  you  were  in  bed  an  hour  ago." 

"  So  we  were,  Dick  ;  but  we  couldn't  sleep,  and 
we  wanted  you." 


A  SORE  HEART.  37 

"  Come  along  then," 

He  took  Sybil  up  in  his  arms  and  held  Letty's 
hand ;  but  before  they  left  the  room  he  stopped  by 
the  empty  bed,  and  spoke  very  soft  and  gently : 
"  Dear,  dear  old  grandfather,  we  know  it  was  all  a 
mistake ;  we  quite  understand,  Letty,  Sybil,  and  I. 
You  meant  to  do  all  that  was  kind  and  generous  for 
us  ;  and  whatever  people  may  say,  we  shall  always 
be  grateful  and  loving  in  our  thought  of  you." 

That  half-hour  before  nurse  came  bustling  up  and 
swept  the  two  little  girls  off  to  bed  again,  was  wonder- 
fully soothing  to  Dick's  poor,  sore,  sick  young  heart, 
though  Sybil  fell  asleep  in  his  arms  and  Letty  only 
rested  her  soft  cheek  against  his  arm  as  she  sat  in 
her  little  chair  by  his  side,  and  looked  up  with  great, 
loving  eyes  and  said,  "  Poor  old  Dick  !  dear  old 
Dick  !  "  without  understanding  one  fraction  of  all  the 
weight  that  was  settling  down  on  her  young  brother. 

He  had  been  feeling  so  bad,  and  bitter  and  resent- 
ful. When  all  the  relations  were  gone,  and  even 
Mr.  Murchison  had  left,  with  only  a  few  words,  being 
too  upset  and  overwhelmed  even  to  express  the  deep 
sympathy  he  felt,  and  Dick  was  left  alone,  and  sat 
over  his  comfortless  dinner  in  the  great,  gloomy 
dining-room,  trying  to  realise  his  new  situation  and 


38  TIP  CAT. 

to  put  away  the  bright  future  that  only  a  couple  of 
hours  before  seemed  so  certainly  his,  and  that  now 
was  utterly  impossible,  it  seemed  incredible  that  he 
was  no  longer  the  Dick  Lucas,  Christ  Church,  Ox- 
ford, who  was  going  to  take  his  degree  next  year  and 
be  called  to  the  Bar  the  year  after ;  to  whom  society 
was  opening  its  doors  and  making  itself  as  delight- 
ful as  it  can  to  a  young  man  of  good  looks,  good 
manners,  and  plenty  of  money ;  that  those  luxurious 
rooms  at  Oxford  were  no  longer  his,  that  the  thorough- 
bred hunter  he  had  bought  only  the  other  day,  and 
only  ridden  once,  must  pass  into  other  hands,  and 
that  the  few  little  bills  that  had  seemed  a  mere  flea 
bite  to  confess  to  the  liberal  old  grandfather,  must 
now  be  scrutinized  and  commented  on  by  Aunt  Maria 
looking  through  Uncle  Tom's  eyes  and  speaking 
with  his  tongue.  What  could  he  do  ?  Where  could 
he  turn?" 

"I  am  so  young,"  he  said,  with  that  terrible  self- 
pity  that  saps  the  strength  more  than  anything  else. 
"-And  there  are  the  two  little  girls." 

But  after  that  quiet  half-hour  in  the  nursery  with 
Sybil's  gentle  sleeping  breath  coming  and  going 
against  his  cheek,  and  Letty's  soft  little  fingers  strok- 
ing and  fondling  his,  half  the  bitterness  seemed  gone. 


A  SORE  HEART.  39 

"  I  am  so  young,"  he  said,  using  the  very  same 
words  that  had  expressed  all  the  pity  and  cruelty 
of  it,  half  an  hour  before,  but  now  expressed  the  com- 
fort. "  I  am  so  young  and  strong,  there  must  be 
work  I  can  do,  and  there  are  the  two  little  girls,  so  I 
have  something  to  work  for." 


40  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

THERE  was  something  hopeful  and  exhilarating 
about  the  weather  next  morning,  and  the  servants 
thought  some  unexpected  piece  of  good  news  must 
have  come  to  Dick  during  the  night,  when  they  heard 
him  whistling  to  himself  over  his  dressing  as  light- 
hearted  as  a  lark.  He  even  felt  surprised  at  himself 
when  he  looked  in  the  glass  that  he  was  not  haggard 
and  heavy-eyed,  with  black  care  sitting  visibly  on  his 
shoulders,  touching  his  hair  with  grey,  and  drawing 
lines  round  mouth  and  eyes.  On  the  contrary  he 
looked  uncommonly  fresh  and  youthful,  but  what  can 
you  not  do  when  you  are  young  and  in  good  health, 
and  have  had  a  perfectly  good  night,  enlivened  with 
dreams  of  a  capital  run  with  the  hounds,  when  the 
February  sky  is  blue  even  through  London  smoke 
and  there  is  a  breath  of  spring  and  violets  in  the  air 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  41 

that  drives  away  all  memory  of  the  fogs  that  curtained 
you  in  only  yesterday  ? 

Dick  found  a  note  on  the  breakfast  table  awaiting 
him  from  Uncle  Tom,  asking  him  to  come  round  that 
morning  to  his  house  to  talk  over  arrangements,  as 
he  had  a  touch  of  gout  in  one  foot  and  could  not  get 
down  to  the  bank  that  day.  Dick  shrewdly  suspected 
that  Uncle  Tom's  gout  was  brought  on  by  Aunt 
Maria's  anxiety  to  be  present  at  any  interview  that 
might  take  place,  and  by  her  fixed  determination  to 
have  a  voice,  and  that  a  very  ruling  one,  in  any  ar- 
rangements that  might  be  made,  and  he  would  much 
rather  have  settled  it.  all  with  Uncle  Tom  alone  in 
his  room  at  the  bank,  or  in  Mr.  Murchison's  office, 
with  the  kind,  old  lawyer  to  put  everything  in  its  best 
light. 

But  there  was  no  help  for  it ;  gout  is  a  circumstance 
to  which  we  must  all  give  way.  So,  breakfast  being 
over,  Dick  called  the  little  girls  to  put  on  their  things 
and  come  with  him. 

Jenkins  came  into  the  hall  to  help  him  on  with  his 
overcoat ;  the  old  man  was  looking  very  dilapidated 
after  his  last  night's  excess,  and  Dick,  who  guessed 
the  cause  of  part  of  his  miserable  looks,  had  taken 
no  notice  of  his  sigh  as  he  handed  the  coffee,  or  his 


42  TIP  CAT. 

sniff  over  the  fried  bacon  ;  but  now  there  was  some- 
thing so  appealing  in  the  old  man's  dejected  face 
that  Dick  took  hold  of  the  unsteady  hand  that  was 
fumbling  with  his  coat  and  shook  it  warmly. 

"  Cheer  up,  old  friend,"  he  said  ;  "  there  are  better 
days  in  store  for  us  all  yet,  never  fear  !  "  which  sent 
the  old  man  shuffling  off  sobbing  into  the  pantry, 
hardly  hearing  Dick's  concluding  words,  "  but  I  don't 
think  whisky  will  bring  them  any  the  quicker."  But  I 
think  the  kindness  and  the  shake  of  the  hand  carried 
the  moral  straighter  to  his  heart  than  any  words  could 
have  done. 

Letty  and  Sybil  came  running  down  stairs,  pulling 
on  obstinate,  new,  black  gloves  in  a  violent  and  reck- 
less manner  in  their  haste  to  be  off,  and  the  three 
set  off  very  cheerfully,  though  the  children  experi- 
enced the  first  pinch  of  their  fallen  fortunes  when 
Dick  refused  to  buy  them  each  a  bunch  of  violets 
from  the  basket  that  was  offered  temptingly  at  the 
corner.  They  passed  the  cabstand  too  with  firm 
resolution,  not  to  be  shaken  by  the  most  insinuating 
touching  of  hats  or  raising  of  whips  from  friendly 
cabbies,  and  Dick  felt  as  if  he  were  already  two  shil- 
lings the  richer  for  the  saved  cab-hire. 

There  was  plenty  of  time ;  they  were  all  good 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  43 

walkers,  and  Dick's  pride  would  not  swallow  an  om- 
nibus just  at  present — poor,  silly  fellow ;  though  Letty 
and  Sybil  grew  silent  towards  the  end  cf  the  walk 
and  dragged  back  a  good  deal,  stoutly  denying,  how- 
ever, all  the  time  that  they  were  the  least  tired. 

They  found  Uncle  Tom  established  in  the  arm- 
chair in  the  dining-room,  with  one  of  his  feet  swathed 
in  flannel  and  laid  up  on  a  chair,  and  Aunt  Maria 
mounting  guard  over  the  sufferer  with  her  knitting 
and  with  all  the  outward  marks  of  a  patient  and  long- 
suffering  wife,  ready  to  attend  to  the  slightest  wish  of 
her  irritable  lord  and  master. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  Uncle  Tom  was  thor- 
oughly uncomfortable  and  ill  at  ease,  but  whether 
this  was  from  the  gout  or  from  what  he  had  to  say 
to  Dick,  is  not,  I  think,  doubtful,  even  though  it  had 
been  persistently  pointed  out  to  him  during  the 
watches  of  the  night,  that  what  he  was  going  to  pro- 
pose was  the  best,  and  wisest,  and  most  generous, 
and,  in  fact,  the  only  course  to  take.  But  the  words 
were  not  very  sweet  to  Uncle  Tom's  lips  and  he 
would  gladly  have  turned  over  in  his  bed  and  gone 
to  sleep  and  left  his  wife  and  Dick  to  fight  it  out  to- 
gether; and  the  sound  of  Aunt  Maria's  knitting 
needles,  which  had  a  little,  vicious  click  peculiar  to 


44  TIP  CAT. 

themselves,  made  him  so  nervous,  that  the  groan  he 
gave  vent  to  every  now  and  then  was  by  no  means 
unprovoked,  though  not  by  the  twinges  of  gout  to 
which  Dick  attributed  them,  and  which  were  really 
of  the  very  slightest  description. 

"Well,  Dick,"  he  said,  after  the  preliminaries 
about  health  and  weather  had  been  got  through,  "  it 
must  have  been  a  very  great  surprise  to  you  the  way 
matters  went  yesterday.  So  it  was  to  all — eh,  my 
dear  ?  "  appealing  to  his  wife,  who  was,  however,  too 
•  busy  counting  the  stitches  on  one  of  her  needles  to 
make  any  answer.  So  he  had  to  turn  back  to  Dick, 
who  replied  that  it  certainly  was  a  great  surprise. 

"  It  comes  very  hard  on  you,  Dick  ;  as,  of  course, 
it  will  make  some  difference  in  your  prospects." 

"  Of  course,"  said  Dick.  "  All  the  difference  in 
the  world." 

He  spoke  so  cheerfully,  that  Uncle  Tom  went  on 
more  easily  and  with  less  humming  and  hawing. 
"  I'm  glad  to  see  you  take  it  so  well,  for  your  aunt 
and  I  have  been  saying  how  hard  it  comes  on  you  to 
give  up  Oxford,  though  we  were  never  in  favor  of 
your  going  there  in  the  first  instance." 

A  moment  before,  Dick  would  have  said  that  he 
had  known  from  the  very  first  that  Oxford  was  now 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  45 

quite  out  of  the  question,  and  that  even  if  Uncle 
Tom,  with  startling  and  unexpected  generosity,  had 
offered  to  let  him  remain  till  he  had  taken  his  degree, 
he  would,  on  no  account,  have  agreed  to  do  so  at  his 
expense,  but  still  there  must  have  been  lurking  some- 
where undetected  in  his  inmost  heart  a  hope  that 
things  might  after  all  turn  out  differently,  for,  at 
those  words  of  Uncle  Tom's,  a  dull  pain  awoke  in  his 
heart  that  only  the  uprooting*  of  a  hope  can  cause. 
But  he  only  laughed,  and  neither  Uncle  Tom  nor 
Aunt  Maria  loved  him  well  enough  to  notice  the 
harshness  of  that  laugh,  and  only  Letty,  who  had 
declined  to  go  to  the  nursery  with  Sybil,  glanced  up 
quickly  at  his  face  as  if  she  heard  something  unusual. 
But  there  was  nothing  to  be  read  there,  then  or  after- 
wards, while  Uncle  Tom  unfolded  the  plans  he  and 
Aunt  Maria  had  sketched  out  during  the  night,  and 
Dick  only  said,  "  To  be  sure,"  and  "  Of  course," 
and  "  Thank  you,  sir,"  with  such  quiet  submission 
that  Aunt  Maria  looked  sharply  at  him,  more  than 
once,  to  see  if  there  were  any  concealed  sarcasm,  in 
the  thanks  for  what,  even  she  could  not  help  feeling, 
was  not  a  very  generous  proposal. 

Dick  was  to  have  a  place  in  the  bank  with  a  salary 
of  ioo/.  a  year. 


46  TIP  CAT. 

Dick  writhed  a  little  as  Aunt  Maria  pointed  out 
that  it  was  out  of  pure  kindness  (she  could  not  quite 
bring  out  the  word  charity)  that  his  uncle  took  him 
on,  as  no  extra  clerk  was  wanted,  and  he  would  not 
be  of  the  slightest  use  for  morlths,  if  at  all,  as  young 
men  who  had  been  brought  up  in  idle,  extravagant 
habits  very  rarely  become  good  men  of  business  ; 
but  he  only  said  he  would  do  his  best  and  was 
awfully  obliged  ;  and  he  tried  not  to  think  of  the 
clerks,  on  whom  he  had  hitherto  looked  down,  and 
whom  he  had  patronized  in  an  easy,  good-natured 
way  with  a  sublime,  assured  feeling  of  superiority 
and  who  would  now  be  his  equals,  if  not  his  super- 
iors. 

Uncle  Tom's  spirits  quite  rose  at  the  quiet  and 
satisfactory  way  in  which  he  was  getting  through  the 
business,  and  Dick's  attention  wandered  a  little  from 
the  arrangements  for  the  sale  of  the  furniture  in  Bed- 
ford Place  and  the  letting  of  the  house,  the  details  of 
which  were  to  be  left  to  Mr.  Murchison,  though  that 
gentleman  was  in  no  favor  with  Aunt  Maria  at  pres- 
ent. As  she  told  Dick,  she  could  not  have  much 
confidence  in  a  man  who  expressed  himself  in  such 
an  unprofessional  and  ungentlemanlike  way  as  he 
had  done  over  the  unsigned  will  ;  but  Uncle  Tom 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  47 

had  declared  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  put  the 
business  into  other  hands,  so  paying  the  lawyer  out 
must  be  left  till  another  day. 

Dick  would  have  to  find  lodgings  for  himself  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Lucas's  Bank.  "  And  I  ought 
to  caution  you,  Dick,"  said  Aunt  Maria,  "  that  your 
means  will  not  allow  of  any  extravagance." 

"  No,  you  will  have  to  be  careful,"  said  Uncle 
Tom,  "  for  though  there  will  be  the  50^.  a  year  from 

your  father's  estate " 

'  "  But  there  are  the  little  girls  !  "  said  Dick,  sud- 
denly arousing  to  the  fact  that  he  had  forgotten 
Letty  and  Sybil,  and  grown  selfish  in  his  trouble  ; 
"  there  are  the  little  girls." 

And  Uncle  Tom  also  roused  to  the  consciousness 
that  he  was  not  out  of  the  wood  yet,  and  that  per- 
haps this  might  be  the  most  difficult  part  of  it. 

"  I  was  coming  to  them,"  he  said.  "  Letty,  run 
away  to  the  nursery." 

But  Letty  only  drew  closer  to  Dick. 

"  Your  aunt  and  I  have  thought  a  great  deal 
about  the  children,  and  though  your  aunt  was 
anxious  "  (here  Uncle  Tom  gave  a  swallow  as  if  the 
words  stuck  in  his  throat)  "  to  have  them  to  bring  up 
with  Ellen  and  Grace  "  (here  Letty  squeezed  Dick's 


48  TIP  CAT. 

hand,  in  horror,  very  hard),  "  we  felt  there  were  a 
good  many  objections,  and  that  it  was  our  duty  to 
consider  first  what  would  be  for  the  good  of  our  own 
children." 

"  Certainly,"  agreed  Dick. 

"  So  your  aunt  has  consented  to  give  up  her  wish, 
and  she  has  got  particulars  of  a  school  which  we 
think  would  be  very  suitable." 

"  Indeed,"  said  Dick,  with  a  reassuring  pat  to  a 
trembling  little  hand  clinging  to  his  arm. 

"  It  seems  an  excellently  managed  establishment, 
and  the  terms  are  very  moderate." 

"They  are  "rather  young  for  school  yet,"  said 
Dick. 

"  Not  at  all,  not  at  all,"  said  Aunt  Maria  ;  "  they 
have  been  shamefully  spoiled,  and  no  doubt  are  very 
backward.  Grace  and  Ellen  at  their  age  were  well 
advanced,  and  it  is  high  time  they  should  be  learning 
something,  if  they  are  to  support  themselves  when 
they  grow  up." 

"  What  ?  "  said  Dick.  He  could  hardly  believe 
his  ears,  and  he  turned  to  Aunt  Maria  such  a  look 
of  amazement,  and  spoke  so  suddenly  and  sharply 
that  it  quite  startled  her,  and  caused  her  to  drop  half 
a  dozen  stitches  off  her  needles ;  and  she  went  on 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  49 

irritably  with  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  knitting  as  she 
picked  up  the  stitches,  which  prevented  her  seeing 
the  storm  signals  that  were  rising  in  Dick's  face, 
compressed  lips,  rising  color,  and  eyes  that  flashed 
and  clouded  in  a  manner  very  unlike  their  usual  kind 
good-nature.  But  Uncle  Tom  saw  them,  and  grew 
so  nervous  that  he  actually  hoisted  his  gouty  foot 
down  off  the  chair  and  drummed  on  the  ground  with 
it,  which  may  have  shown  either  the  intensity  of  his 
mental,  or  the  slightness  of  his  bodily  sufferings. 

"  We  must  not  close  our  eyes  to  the  future," 
Aunt  Maria  went  on  ;  "  of  course  the  little  girls  will 
have  to  earn  their  livings,  as  they  are  entirely  unpro- 
vided for,  and  it  is  quite  our  duty,  whatever  the  cost 
may  be,  to  give  them  the  means  of  doing  so  by  a 
thoroughly  good  education." 

Dick  said  nothing ;  he  was  looking  at  little  Letty, 
who,  being  tired  with  her  walk,  looked  more  delicate 
and  fragile  and  like  Dresden  china  than  ever,  with 
less  rose-leaf  color  in  her  cheeks  and  a  serious, 
wistful  look  in  her  great,  soft  eyes  as  they  turned 
from  Aunt  Maria  to  Dick,  trying  to  understand  what 
was  said. 

And  just  then  Sybil  came  slipping  in ;  she  had 
quarrelled  with  Ellen  and  Grace  in  the  nursery  be- 


50  TIP   CAT. 

cause  they  had  said  that  Dick  was  a  beggar,  and 
would  have  to  sweep  a  crossing,  and,  I  am  sorry  to 
say,  she  had  slapped  Ellen's  face  and  pinched  Grace's 
arm,  and,  finding  after  this  that  the  nursery  was  too 
hot  to  hold  her,  had  come  to  find  protection  with 
Dick. 

"  The  school  is  at  Camberwell,  and  the  present 
opportunity  is  most  favorable,  as  there  are  some 
vacancies,  and  Miss  Primmer  is  willing  to  take  two 
sisters  at  a  reduction,  and  no  doubt  she  might  be 
induced  to  lower  her  terms  still  more  on  the  under- 
standing that  when  they  get  older  they  shall  assist 
in  the  teaching  and  needlework.  She  has  a  good 
many  gentlemen's  children  among  the  pupils,  as  the 
school  is  principally  intended  for  the  daughters  of 
the  clergy  and  people  in  distressed  circumstances. 
They  are  all  dressed  alike,  and  the  feeding  is,  I  am 
told,  very  good — plain,  of  course,  but  plentiful." 

Here  at  last  she  paused  for  Dick,  to  express  his 
satisfaction,  and  as  he  made  no  remark  she  looked 
up.  "  Well  ?  "  she  said,  "  don't  you  think  it  will  do 
very  well  ?  " 

"  No,"  Dick  answered.  His  voice  trembled  a 
little,  but  he  was  doing  his  best  to  answer  quietly, 
and  to  keep  his  temper.  "  No,  I  don't  think  it  would 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  51 

do  for  my  sisters  at  all.  I  will  not  let  them  go  to  a 
charity  school." 

I  think  Aunt  Maria  was  taken  by  surprise  ;  he 
had  listened  so  quietly,  and  being,  as  I  have  said, 
absorbed  in  her  knitting,  she  had  not  seen  from  his 
face  that  he  was  not  taking  it  well,  so  perhaps  this 
was  some  slight  excuse  for  her  losing  her  temper,  as 
she  did,  completely. 

(l  His  sisters,  indeed !  Why  were  his  sisters 
better  than  any  other  penniless  children  ?  Perhaps 
he  would  find  the  money  to  put  them  to  a  first-class 
school,  or  keep  them  at  home,  cockered  up  in  the 
ridiculous  luxury  they  have  been  accustomed  to. 
Charity  school  !  forsooth  !  And  what  was  it  but 
charity  in  future  that  would  put  bread  in  their  mouths 
and  clothes  on  their  backs  ?  My  word !  it  was  fine 
to  hear  beggars  talk !  "  And  so  she  ran  on,  work- 
ing herself  up  into  a  fury  that  was  only  increased  by 
Uncle  Tom's  little  attempts  to  soothe  her — "  But, 
my  dear — Maria,  my  love — I  am  sure  that  Dick — " 
and  by  Dick's  persistent  silence,  for  he  would  not 
forget  that  he  was  a  gentleman,  however  hard  he 
found  it  to  remember  that  she  was  a  lady. 

All  the  same  he  was  very  angry ;  no  doubt  it  was 
very  foolish  of  him,  and  it  would  have  been  better 


$2  TIP  CAT. 

for  him  and  the  little  girls  to  keep  on  good  terms 
with  their  relations  ;  but  young  blood  is  hot,  and  he 
could  not  endure  the  thought  of  his  little,  delicate, 
dainty  sisters  having  to  scramble  and  shift  for  them- 
selves at  a  rough-and-ready  charity  school.  So,  at  the 
first  break  in  the  torrent  of  words,  he  turned  to  his 
uncle  :  "  I  was  in  too  great  a  hurry,  sir,"  he  said,  "  to 
accept  the  offer  of  a  seat  in  your  bank.  I  think  on 
consideration  I  must  decline  it.  I  mean  to  keep 
my  sisters  with  me,  and  must  try  and  find  a  situation 
that  will  not  separate  us." 

"Wait  a  bit,  Dick,"  entreated  Uncle  Tom,  but 
was  snuffed  out  in  a  moment  by  his  wife,  and  col- 
lapsed groaning  into  his  arm-chair. 

"  Oh  !  don't  press  it  on  him,  no  doubt  it's  not  nearly 
good  enough  for  him  ;  no  doubt  he  can  command 
any  situation  he  pleases,  and  it  is  only  an  insult  to 
offer  him  anything  less  than  a  partnership  ! " 

Dick  was  pretty  well  at  the  end  of  his  patience  by 
this  time,  and  Letty  had  begun  to  cry,  and  Sybil  was 
much  inclined  to  follow  suit,  and  he  often  wondered 
afterwards  how  he  managed  to  keep  silence  and 
make  his  escape  without  letting  his  indignation  boil 
over  into  hasty  words  ;  but  somehow  it  was  done, 
and  he  found  himself  walking  at  a  tremendous  rate 


PLANS  FOR  THE  FUTURE.  53 

along  one  of  the  side  paths  in  Regent's  Park,  quite 
oblivious  as  to  where  he  was  going,  or  that  he  was 
going  so  fast  that  Sybil  and  Letty  had  to  run  to  keep 
up  with  him,  and  were  out  of  breath  and  tired. 


54  TIP  CA  T. 


.  CHAPTER  V. 

AN    OPENING. 

"I'VE  been  and  gone  and  done  it  now,"  Dick  said 
an  hour  later,  as  he  came  into  Mr.  Murchison's 
quiet  office  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  He  said  it  with 
"a  laugh,  but  Mr.  Murchison,  pushing  away  the 
papers  in  which  he  had  been  entirely  engrossed,  and 
looking  up  at  Dick's  face,  was  not  taken  in  by  his 
joking  manner. 

"  Have  you  been  and  gone  and  had  luncheon  ?  " 
asked  the  old  man  in  reply. 

"  Luncheon  ?  Yes — no — I  breakfasted  late,"  said 
poor  Dick,  too  full  of  his  troubles  to  understand,  as 
Mr.  Murchison  did,  that  hunger  might  be  an  aggra- 
vation of  them. 

"  Well,  perhaps  you  won't  mind  coming  round 
with  me  while  I  have  mine  ?  I  find  I  can't  get  along 
without  a  square  meal  in  the  middle  of  the  day," 
said  that  cunning  old  sinner,  who  had  only  just  come 


AN  OPENING.  55 


back  ten  minutes  ago  from  his  luncheon,  which  was 
always  of  the  most  spare  condition. 

Dick  could  not  well  refuse  to  accompany  him,  nor 
could  he  decline  to  take  any  part  of  the  plentiful 
meal  that  Mr.  Murchison  ordered  for  himself — much 
to  the  amazement  of  the  waiter,  who  was  used  to  the 
old  lawyer's  small  appetite  and  regular,  precise 
tastes. 

So  Dick  took  up  his  knife  and  fork  just  for  polite- 
ness' sake,  and  to  amuse  himself  while  his  old  friend 
lunched,  and  he  amused  himself  to  so  much  purpose 
that  in  twenty  minutes  he  felt  twice. the  man  he  had 
been,  and  much  less  inclined  to  look  on  the  tragic 
side  of  life  ;  and  he  gave  Mr.  Murchison  a  very  dif- 
ferent account  of  what  had  passed  in  the  morning  to 
what  he  would  have  done  before  luncheon,  and  even 
found  excuses  for  Aunt  Maria,  and  blamed  and 
laughed  at  himself  for  having  been  made  so  furious 
by  the  scolding  of  an  angry  woman. 

But  not  the  softening  effects  of  a  good  luncheon, 
nor  the  wise  counsels  of  the  old  lawyer,  could  bring 
him  to  reconsider  his  determination,  and  to  accept 
the  place  offered  him  in  the  bank,  or  to  allow  his 
aunt  any  voice  in  the  disposal  of  the  little  girls.  He 
might,  perhaps,  though  I  rather  doubt  it,  have  been 


56  TIPCAT. 

induced  to  eat  humble  pie  for  himself  ;  but  when  it 
was  a  question  of  serving  out  that  bitter  portion  to 
Letty  and  Sybil,  his  whole  soul  rose  in  revolt.  He 
threw  up  his  head,  with  his  teeth  set,  and  his  nostrils 
dilating,  and  clenched  his  hands,  "  for  all  the  world," 
said  Mr.  Murchison,  "  as  if  I  were  Mrs.  Tom  Lucas, 
and  you  were  going  to  knock  me  down." 

In  his  inmost  heart  the  old  lawyer  could  not  be 
angry  with  the  boy  for  his  sensitive  pride  for  his 
little  sisters,  though  he  rated  him  soundly  for  being 
headstrong  and  self-willed,  and  for  quarrelling  with 
his  bread  and  butter,  feeling  himself  all  the  time  that 
if  his  bread  had  to  be  buttered  by  Mrs.  Tom  Lucas 
he  would  rather  go  without  even  to  starvation  ;  for 
he  had  no  love  for  that  lady,  and  guessed  that  Dick 
would  have  fared  much  better  at  his  uncle's  hands 
if  it  had  not  been  for  her  influence. 

Lawyers  see  so  much  of  the  dark  and  dirty  side  of 
human  nature,.  I  often  wonder  how  any  of  them  can 
keep  any  faith  in  goodness  and  truth  and  high-mind- 
edness. 

"  And  now,"  Dick  said,  "  what  am  I  to  do  ?  " 

They  were  back  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  by  this 
time,  in  Mr.  Murchison's  room — such  a  quaint,  curi- 
ous room  at  the  back  of  the  house,  so  quiet  that  you 


AN  OPENING.  57 


could  scarcely  guess  you  were  within  a  stone's  throw 
of  the  ceaseless  traffic  of  Holborn,  and  lighted  by  a 
skylight  with  colored  panes  introduced,  surrounded 
by  handsome,  heavy  plaster  mouldings  and  cornices 
of  the  last  century.  The  marble  mantlepiece  was 
richly  carved  with  fauns  and  naked  boys  carrying 
bunches  of  grapes — but  I  do  not  know  why  I  should 
mention  all  these  details,  except  because  they  were 
always  associated  in  Dick's  mind  with  the  plans  for 
his  future  life  which  were  debated  on  that  occasion. 

"  What  am  I  to  do  ?  " 

The  old  lawyer  sat  drumming  reflectively  on  his 
blotting-paper,  and  on  a  blue  letter  written  in  a  crab- 
bed, curious  hand  that  lay  upon  it.  He  had  it  in 
his  heart  to  say,  "  I  have  no  chick  nor  child  of  my 
own,  and  a  large  balance  at  my  banker's  that  grows 
every  year  without  giving  me  either  pleasure  or 
profit,  and  I  am  willing  to  take  your  grandfather's 
place  to  you  and  the  little  girls,  and  will  do  as  much 
as  he  was  able  and  intended  to  do,  or  perhaps  even 
more,  and  make  my  old  age  happier  and  brighter 
and  fuller  of  interest  than  any  other  part  of  my  life 
has  been."  But  it  was  utterly  impossible  to  him  to 
say  the  words ;  he  had  always  been  so  prudent  and 
business-like  and  far-sighted  that  he  could  not  do  a 


$8  TIP  CAT. 

rash,  open-handed  act  of  generosity  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment,  like  any  short-sighted,  inconsiderate 
mortal.  Well,  they  say  fools  rush  in  where  angels 
fear  to  tread,  but  sometimes,  it  seems  to  me,  the 
fools  get  the  best  of  it;  and  the  old  lawyer  in  his 
lonely  chambers  in  his  solitary  old  age,  even  with  the 
consolation  of  that  ever-increasing  balance  at  his 
banker's,  was  inclined,  sometimes,  to  wish  that  he 
had  not  been  so  wise. 

"  I'm  afraid  I'm  not  good  for  much,"  said  Dick. 
"  Aunt  Maria  says  I  shall  never  make  a  good  man 
of  business  ;  but  I'll  do  my  best.  I  write  a  pretty 
good  hand,  you  know,  and  I'm  not  such  a  duffer  at 
figures  as  some  fellows.  What  have  you  got  there  ?  " 

For  Mr.  Murchison  was  unfolding  the  blue  letter 
before  him  with  a  doubtful,  hesitating  air,  which 
roused  Dick's  curiosity. 

"  It's  a  letter  I  received  this  morning,  strangely 
enough,  from  an  old  client  of  mine  at  Slowmill. 
He's  a(  solicitor,  and  he  writes  to  ask  if  I  can  send 
him  a  clerk.  He  has  a  managing  clerk,  who  has 
been  with  him  for  years,  and  has  all  the  business  at 
his  fingers'  ends  ;  but  he  wants  another  to  take  the 
place  of  a  nephew  who  has  gone  to  the  bad.  He 
wants  a  gentlemanly  young  fellow  who  writes  a  good 


AN  OPENING.  59 


hand.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is,  he  is  bringing  out 
a  big  legal  work,  and  it's  more  a  sort  of  secretary 
he  wants  than  anything  else.  He  has  been  at  it 
this  twenty  years,  and  I  don't  believe  it's  any  nearer 
completion  than  it  was  ten  years  ago.  It  needs  a 
lot  of  patience,  I  can  tell  you.  He  thinks  of  nothing 
else,  and  he  kept  that  young  nephew  of  his  so  close 
at  it  that  he  broke  down  and  went  to  the  bad — got 
into  debt,  forged  his  uncle's  name,  and  made  off. 
No,  Dick  ;  it  wouldn't  do  for  you,"  answering  the 
eager  look  in  Dick's  eyes  before  it  was  put  into" 
words.  "It  would  wear  you  out,  body  and  soul. 
You  don't  know  what  a  place  Slowmill  is,  or  what  a 
slave-driver  old  Burgess  is  when  he's  mounted  on  his 
hobby." 

"  Do  you  think  I  should  go  to  the  bad  like  the 
nephew  ?  "  said  Dick.  "  I  don't  feel  as  if  I  had 
much  go- left  in  me  either  way.  Won't  you  speak  a 
word  for  me  ?  "  he  went  on  eagerly.  "  It  would  be 
so  fine  to  tell  Uncle  Tom  that  I  have  found  a  situa. 
tion,  and  take  the  children  right  away.  I  don't  much 
mind  what  I  do,  or  how  little  I  get  for  it,  as  long  as 
I'm  out  of  sight.  I  was  thinking  as  I  came  along 
that  I  shouldn't  mind  a  groom's  place ;  for  I  do 
know  something  about  horses.  By  Jove  !  if  Letty 


60  TIP  CAT. 

and  Sybil  were  only  boys,  I'd  do  it  and  we  could  live 
over  the  stables,  and  be  as  jolly  as  sand-boys  ;  but, 
of  course,  with  the  girls  it  wouldn't  do.  What  does 
the  old  beggar  offer  ? — I  beg  his  pardon — Mr.  Bur- 
gess, didn't  you  call  him  ?  " 

"  The  salary  is  not  much,"  said  Mr.  Murchison. 
"  In  fact,  I  hardly  think  it  worth  your  taking." 

"'Beggars  musn't  be  choosers,'"  said  Dick.  "I 
had  that  instilled  into  me  this  morning,  and  I'm  not 
likely  to  forget  it.  What's  the  figure  ?  " 

"  The  salary  to  a  competent  person  would  be  8o/. 
It's  absurd,"  said  Mr.  Murchison,  folding  up  the 
letter  and  stowing  it  away  in  his  pocket ;  "  not  to  be 
thought  of." 

"  Wait  a  bit,"  urged  Dick.  "  It's  not  so  bad,  after 
all — only  twenty  pounds  less  than  Uncle  Tom  offered 
me,  and  thought  he  was  doing  the  handsome  with  a 
vengeance.  What's  twenty  pounds  more  or  less,  if 
you  come  to  think  of  it  ? "  ( Experience  had  not 
taught  him  that  2o/.  more  may  make  little  difference, 
but  2o/.  less  matters  infinitely  more.)  "  I  call  it  un- 
commonly good  for  a  beginner.  But  do  you  think 
I've  a  chance  ?  such  a  lot  of  fellows  will  be  after  it. 
Look  here,  couldn't  you  write  a  line  for  me  to  take 
down,  and  I'd  interview  the  old  fellow  ?  Oh,  don't 


AN  OPENING.  6 1 


you  be  afraid  !  I'll  make  him  think  me  a  second 
Solomon.  I'll  roar  as  softly  as  any  sucking  dove.  I 
shouldn't  have  time  to  run  down  this  afternoon," 
consulting  his  watch  ;  "  but  I  could  go  to-morrow 
morning." 

But  Mr.  Murchison  still  hesitated.  "  You  have 
not  a  notion  what  a  dull  place  Slowmill  is." 

"  So  much  the  better.  Even  on  8o/.  a  year  we 
could  not  afford  much  society." 

"  There's  not  a  gentleman  but  Burgess  in  the 
place." 

"  Perhaps  if  there  were  they  might  not  think  much 
of  a  lawyer's  clerk.  Look  here,  I  don't  expect  to 
find  a  bed  of  roses  anywhere  ;  but  I'd  rather  bear 
the  thorns  out  of  sight.  Now,  sit  down  and  write  a 
letter  of  recommendation  for  me  ;  make  the  best  of  a 
bad  job,  old  friend,  and  paint  my  portrait  in  the  colors 
you  think  would  be  most  taking,  and  I'll  give  you  a 
specimen  of  my  patience  by  not  interrupting  till  it's 
done." 

And  so  Dick  sat,  with  his  hands  dug  deep  down 
into  his  trousers'  pockets,  and  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
dull  coals  in  the  grate,  that  crumbled  and  died  into 
ashes  as  his  bright  hopes  and  ambitions  had  done  ; 
or  on  the  dancing  boys  carved  on  the  mantlepiece, 


62  TIP  CAT. 

who  had  grinned  and  capered  before  many  a  dull  eye 
and  heavy,  broken  heart  in  the  lawyer's  office. 

It  was  a  long  business,  writing  that  letter,  but  at 
last  it  was  done,  and  Dick  went  off  with  it  in  his 
pocket  in  capital  spirits.  In  the  evening  he  was  up 
in  the  nursery  describing  to  the  little  girls  the  cot- 
tage they  would  live  in  at  Slowmill  and  the  pleasures 
of  country  life,  busily  counting  his  chickens  before 
they  are  hatched,  when  a  ring  at  the  bell  and  old 
Jenkins,  puffing  and  blowing  up  stairs,  an- 
nounced that  Mr.  Tom  Lucas  had  come  to  see  his 
nephew. 

He  had  had  a  hard  time  of  it  since  the  morning, 
and  I  hardly  know  how  he  had  managed  to  make  his 
escape  and  come  to  Bedford  Place.  His  gouty  foot 
was  still  in  a  slipper,  but  there  was  no  other  sign  of 
the  malady  of  the  morning,  and  he  got  up  quite 
briskly  from  his  chair  when  his  nephew  came  into 
the  library  and  went  forward  to  meet  him. 

"  I  can't  stop  a  minute,"  he  said ;  "  but  I  just 
wanted  to  say  that  you  must  not  be  in  a  hurry  or  take 
too  seriously  anything  your  aunt  said  this  morning. 
She  has  been  very  much  upset,  and  she's  a  martyr  to 
her  nerves — positively  a  martyr — Dick." 

He  might  have  added,  "  And  so  am  I ; "  but  Dick 


AN  OPENING.  63 


mentally  added  it  for  him,  only  he  altered  the  word 
nerves  into  temper. 

"  When  she  has  one  of  her  nervous  attacks  she 
really  hardly  knows  what  she's  about.  There's  not 
a  kinder-hearted  woman  than  your  Aunt  Maria  in 
London.  'Pon  my  word  there's  not,  Dick." 

There  was  something  so  deprecating  and  appeal- 
ing in  Uncle  Tom's  manner,  that  Dick,  in  the  soft- 
ness of  his  heart,  would  have  liked  to  agree  in  his 
opinion  of  Aunt  Maria's  virtues  ;  but  he  was  still  too 
sore  and  smarting  from  the  morning's  castigation  to 
be  anything  but  sincere,  so  he  assured  his  uncle 
that  it  was  all  right  and  no  bones  broken. 

Uncle  Tom  gave  a  sigh  of  relief  and  turned  to  go. 
"Then  you'll  come  round  to  the  bank  to-morrow 
morning,  and  we'll  settle  when  you  shall  begin  work  ; 
and  as  for  the  children,  we  need  not  be  in  any  hurry 
about  them  for  the  present." 

Dick  had  thought  what  a  fine  thing  it  would  be  to 
tell  his  uncle  that  he  had  another  situation  and  was 
quite  independent  of  him  and  Aunt  Maria ;  but  now 
he  felt  quite  a  twinge  of  compunction  at  upsetting 
the  other's  relief  and  satisfaction,  more  especially  as 
Uncle  Tom  was  looking  worn  and  tired,  and  limped 
a  little  as  he  walked  to  the  door. 


64  TIP  CA  T. 

"  Here,  take  my  arm,"  he  said,  "  and  let  me  help 
you  out  to  the  cab.  You  should  not  have  come  out, 
sir;  you  will  have  made  your  foot  worse  again." 
And  when  he  had  put  him  into  the  cab  and  told  the 
man  where  to  drive,  he  fired  off  his  parting  shot 
quickly. 

"  I'm  afraid  I  can't  come  to  the  bank  to-morrow, 
for  I've  heard  of  a  situation  at  Slowmill  that  I  must 
go  and  see  after," 

"Eh!     What?     What?     What?" 

"  A  situation  as  clerk,  which  seems  likely  to  suit 
me,  and  where  I  can  take  the  little  girls.  Good 
night,  and  thank  you,  sir." 

That  drive  up  to  Regent's  Park  was  not  a  pleasant 
one  to  Uncle  Tom,  and,  by  the  time  he  reached  home, 
he  was  so  groaning  and  miserable  that  he  was  only 
fit  to  hobble  up  to  bed. 

"  And  serve  him  right  too  !  "  said  Aunt  Maria. 


THE  LAST  DA  Y  IN  THE  OLD  HOME.        65 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  LAST  DAY  IN  THE  OLD  HOME. 

"  HE  won't  get  it,"  said  Aunt  Maria,  "  mark  my 
words,  it  was  just  a  piece  of  flourish.  Take  my  advice 
and  just  let  him  alone  for  a  bit  till  he  learns  that  good 
situations  are  not  as  plentiful  as  blackberries,  and 
we  shall  soon  have  him  up  here  singing  a  very  differ- 
ent tune  and  glad  to  fall  in  with  anything  we  may 
propose.  And  meantime,  of  course,  the  servants 
must  be  dismissed  and  the  sale  of  the  furniture  put 
in  hand,  and  that  will  help  to  bring  my  young  gentle- 
man to  his  senses," 

I  do  not  think  that  Uncle  Tom  could  have  carried 
out  his  wife's  instructions  so  exactly .  if  it  had  not 
been  for  a  fortnight's  attack  of  illness  which  happened 
to  him  then,  partly  gout,  but  mostly  nervous  irritabil- 
ity and  vexation  of  spirit.  Whatever  the  exact  na- 
ture of^his  complaint  may  have  been,  he  really  was  bond 


66  TIP  CAT. 

fide  ill,  and  in  the  doctor's  and  Aunt  Maria's  hands, 
and  had  to  transact  his  business  at  home  ;  and  dur- 
ing one  or  two  interviews  which  he  had  with  Mr. 
Murchison,  that  gentleman  was  so  extremely  taciturn 
and  morose  that  nothing  was  to  be  got  out  of  him 
except  the  very  driest  business  arrangements,  and  he 
was  also  apparently  afflicted  with  deafness  whenever 
Aunt  Maria  was  out  of  the  room  and  Uncle  Tom 
ventured  a  question  in  a  low  voice  about  Dick  and 
the  children. 

Of  course  Uncle  Tom  knew  that  the  sen-ants  had 
received  their  legacies  and  wages,  and  been  dis- 
charged, and  that  the  house  was  already  partly  dis- 
mantled after  the  first  day's  sale  ;  for  Mrs.  Tom  had 
commented  severely  on  the  wages  that  that  idle  stuck- 
up  nurse  had  received  for  doing  nothing,  and  had 
also  bought  in  the  dining-room  carpet  and  a  sofa,  on 
which  she  had  looked  with  envy  for  some  time  past ; 
but  still  he  experienced  a  decided  shock  when,  the 
day  he  was  able  to  go  out,  he  drove  to  the  bank  by 
a  circuitous  route  which  took  him  by  Bedford  Place. 

A  hearth  rug  was  hanging  from  the  balcony,  display- 
ing a  bill  of  the  sale,  which  also  fluttered  on  either 
side  of  the  door,  at  which  a  group  of  greasy  Jewish- 
looking  men  stood,  as  if  they  were  quite  the  masters 


THE  LAST  DA  Y  IN  THE  OLD  HOME.        67 

of  the  situation.  The  steps,  which  had  been  Mrs. 
Treasure's  pride  and  glory  in  their  spotless  whiteness, 
were  now  dirty,  and  littered  with  straw  and  bits  of 
paper,  and  on  the  pavement,  waiting  to  be  carried  off  in 
the  van  yawning  to  receive  it,  and  with  an  aggressive- 
ly clear  "Lot 25"  stuck  on  its  arm,  stood  the  big 
leather  arm-chair  in  which  he  had  so  often  seen  his 
old  father  sitting. 

The  Jewish  gentlemen  fastened  on  Uncle  Tom  as 
their  natural  prey,  concluding  him  to  be  a  simple- 
minded  bidder ;  but  he  paid  no  attention  to  their 
nasal  civilities,  but  went  in,  and  up  the  stairs,  in 
spite  of  his  limping  foot,  to  the  nursery,  as  if  he  ex- 
pected still  to  find  the  two  little  girls  arranging  the 
Noah's  Ark  animals  along  the  table,  and  turning 
two  smiling  little  faces  towards  him  as  he  came  in 
as  they  had  done  the  last  time  he  was  there,  on  the 
day  of  the  old  man's  death. 

It  was  as  desolate  as  an  empty  robin's  nest  in  the 
snow,  and  Uncle  Tom  turned  and  hurried  away, 
wondering  why  he  had  come,  and  what  he  expected 
to  find,  and  wishing  he  could  forget  Lot  94,  "  rock- 
ing chair  and  high  fire-guard,"  or  Lot  97,  "  Noah's 
Ark  and  doll's  house,"  which  came  persistently  be- 
tween him  and  his  writing  all  the  day. 


68  TIP  CAT. 

Nor  did  he  get  much  consolation  from  Mr.  Mur- 
chison,  on  whom  he  called  in  the  afternoon,  for  the 
lawyer  was  up  to  his  eyes  in  work,  and  could  only 
spare  a  minute  to  tell  Mr.  Tom  Lucas  that  his  nephew 
had  left  London  the  week  before  for  Slowmill,  where 
he  believed  he  had  a  good  situation,  and  had  taken 
his  sisters  with  him,  and  had  desired  him,  Mr. 
Murchison,  to  tell  his  uncle  that  he  would  write  to 
him  very  shortly. 

"What  has  he  done  about  his  rooms  at  Oxford  and 
his  bills  there  ?  " 

.  "  All  settled,  my  dear  sir ;  but  you'll  excuse  me, 
I  have  an  appointment  at  four,  and  you  know  what 
business  is,  so  I  need  not  apologize." 

"  Good  day  to  you,"  said  Mr.  Tom  Lucas,  wrath- 
fully,  with  a  firm  determination  to  put  his  business 
forthwith  into  other  hands — a  determination  which 
Mr.  Murchison  read  plainly  in  the  other's  sulky  face 
and  voice,  and  answered  by  a  mental  snap  of  the 
fingers  and  "  Don't  care  if  you  do  \  " 

Those  Oxford  bills  of  Dick's  had  come  in  like  a 
hailstorm  as  soon  as  his  present  circumstances  be- 
came known,  and  Mr.  Murchison  and  Dick  had  more 
than  one  battle  over  them,  as  the  lawyer  maintained 
that  Mr.  Tom  Lucas  ought  clearly  to  pay  them,  and 


THE  LAST  DA  Y  IN  THE  OLD  HOME         69 

Dick  as  stoutly  persisted  that  he  ought  not  and  should 
not.  Luckily  Dick's  birthday  had  been  shortly  be- 
fore, and  the  old  man  had  sent  him  a  handsome 
cheque  ;  and  his  rooms  at  Oxford  were  full  of  pretty 
things.  He  had  been  a  bit  of  a  collector  of  bric-a- 
brac  and  old  china,  and  had  a  few  pictures  which 
were  worth  something,  though  of  course  not  half 
what  he  originally  gave  for  them  ;  but  Dick  had 
plenty  of  friends  at  Oxford,  and  the  sale  was  well 
managed,  and  the  dealers  did  not  have  it  alt  their 
own  way ;  so  when  it  was  over  there  was  enough 
money  to  pay  off  all  the  bills  and  leave  a  little  over 
to  start  Dick's  housekeeping  at  Slowmill. 

I  think  the  old  lawyer's  heart  bled  the  most  of  the 
two  over  the  dispersion  of  all  the  pretty  things  that 
the  spoilt  young  favorite  of  fortune  had  gathered 
round  him.  Dick  kept  a  very  brave  face  and  laughed 
at  the  old  lawyer's  groans  and  grunts,  and  quite  per- 
suaded the  little  girls  and  almost  persuaded  himself 
that  it  was  all  a  good  piece  of  fun. 

Letty  and  Sybil  received  a  great  deal  of  commisera- 
tion from  the  servants  during  the  few  days  that  elapsed 
between  the  funeral  and  their  leaving  Bedford  Place. 
They  agreed  that  if  nurse  and  Martha  had  always 
been  so  kind  in  the  matter  of  buttered  toast  for  tea, 


70  TIP  CAT. 

and  amiable  on  the  subject  of  untidy  nurseries  and 
dirty  pinafores,  they  should  have  been  a  great  deal 
more  sorry  to  say  good-by  to  them.  As  for  Mrs. 
Treasure,  they  had  always  been  very  fond  of  her,  but 
they  had  never  before  enjoyed  such  complete  freedom 
to  run  in  and  out  of  the  kitchen  and  explore  into 
cupboards  and  larder  and  scullery ;  and  they  availed 
themselves  fully  of  it,  which  may,  perhaps,  have 
accounted  for  the  dirty  pinafores  to  which  nurse  was 
so  unusually  lenient. 

There  was  not  one  of  the  servants  who  did  not 
protest,  and  some  of  them  with  tears  in  their  eyes, 
that  if  ever  Mr.  Dick  came  back  to  London  and 
needed  their  services,  they  would  come  to  him  even 
if  it  were  u  from  the  Injes  itself ;  "  and  old  Jenkins 
begged  and  entreated  to  come  with  him  to  Skwmill, 
leaving  the  matter  of  wages  to  be  decided  in  the  future. 
For  one  and  all  of  the  servants  felt  convinced  that 
everything  must  come  right  in  the  future  ;  there  could 
not  but  "be  a  bright  prospect  for  Dick,  even  though 
the  clouds  might  be  thick  just  now  overhead  ;  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  troubles  there  was  a  brightness  in  his 
face  and  a  confidence  in  his  manner  that  might  even 
now  have  justified  the  brown-faced  gipsy  girls,  who 
had  plagued  him  at  Ascot  and  Henley  with  requests 


THE  LAST  DAY  IN  THE  OLD  HOME.        71 

to  tell  his  fortune,  in  saying,  "  Sure,  it's  a  lucky  face 
you  have,  'my  pretty  gentleman  !  " 

It  was  difficult  to  impress  on  Jenkins  that  not  only 
were  wages  out  of  the*  question,  but  that  even  the 
mere  keep  of  an  extra  person  was  more  than  his  very 
limited  income  would  allow  ;  and  when  at  last  it  was 
made  plain  to  him,  he  sat  looking  at  Dick  quite 
aghast  for  five  minutes  in  silence,  and  then  got  up 
and  bolted  out  of  the  room  without  saying  a  word. 
Dick  thought  he  had  gone  to  conceal  his  emotion, 
and  gave  a  little  smile  and  a  sigh  to  himself  at  the 
queer  contortions  of  the  old  man's  working  face. 

It  was  the  last  evening  in  the  dear  old  home,  that 
had  often  seemed  dull  and  dingy  to  the  young  man, 
but  now  was  full  of  kindly  memories  and  homelike 
associations.  His  portmanteau  was  half  packed,  and 
the  little  girls'  box  was  already  standing  strapped  in 
the  hall ;  the  rooms  were  partly  dismantled,  and  the 
dining-room  furniture  was  already  adorned  with  the 
lot  tickets  in  preparation  for  the  sale.  Some  of  the 
servants  had  left  already,  and  only  two  remained  to 
see  the  last  of  the  young  master  and  the  little  girls. 

Mr.  Murchison  had  been  with  Dick  most  of  the 
evening,  and  they  had  smoked  a  cigar  together, 
or  rather  Dick  had  smoked  a  short  briar-wood  pipe, 


72  TIP  CAT. 

for  he  had  eschewed  cigars,  and  suchlike  extrava- 
gances. 

Mr.  Murchison  had  been  very  jolly  that  evening, 
and  so  had  Dick  ;  they  had  told  capital  stories,  and 
had  laughed  till  they  had  wondered  at  one  another 
and  themselves,  and  had  parted  with  a  joke  and  a 
smile,  as  if  all  the  evening  their  hearts  had  not  been 
aching  away,  in  most  perfect  sympathy. 

Jenkins  listened  a  minute  or  two  at  the  library 
door  after  Mr.  Murchison  had  gone ;  he  had  heard 
the  laughing,  and  been  puzzled  by  it.  "  Gentlefolks 
has  queer  ways,"  he  said,  as  he  shook  his  old  head, 
with  its  forty  years'  experience  of  those  ways,  gained 
in  his  office  of  butler ;  "  it  don't  seem  much  of  a 
laughing  matter  to  me." 

But  when  he  opened  the  door  softly  and  caught 
sight  of  Dick's  head  lying  on  his  arms  in  an  attitude 
of  deep  despondency,  he  knew  that  hearts  gentle  or 
simple  are  of  the  same  nature  all  the  world  over,  and 
that  Dick's  heart  was  sinking  down  very  low  in  spite 
of  his  most  strenuous  efforts  to  keep  it  up. 

Of  course  Dick  grew  very  red  when  he  found  the 
old  man's  compassionate  eye  fixed  upon  him,  and  he 
pretended  that  he  was  only  leaning  over  the  table  to 
pick  something  up,  and  that  he  was  sleepy  and  had 


THE  LAST  DA  Y  IN  THE  OLD  HOME.        73 

a  bit  of  a  cold.  But  Jenkins  was  not  to  be  deceived, 
and  after  all  Dick  found  that  it  was  rather  a  relief- 
not  to  keep  up  that  ghastly  attempt  at  cheerfulness 
any  longer  ;  so  he  made  the  old  man  come  and  sit 
down  and  have  a  talk,  and  it  was  then  that  Jenkins, 
as  I  have  said,  made  the  proposal  to  accompany  him 
to  Slowmill,  and,  on  hearing  Dick's  answer  beat  a 
precipitate  retreat  without  a  word  of  explanation. 
He  was  not  gone  long,  but  returned  rather  gasping 
and  out  of  breath,  and  dusty,  as  if  he  had  been  bur- 
rowing in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  glancing  ner- 
vously over  his  shoulder  right  and  left,  to  make  sure 
that  he  was  not  observed,  and  then  from  inside  his 
coat  he  produced,  done  up  in  many  wrappers,  a 
greasy,  savings  bank  book,  and,  with  a  choking  voice, 
and  tears  standing  in  his  eyes,  pushed  it  into  Dick's 
hand,  saying,  "'Twere  honestly  come  by,  not  a  penny 
as  I  hadn't  a  right  to.  I  might  have  robbed  the  old 
master  every  day  of  the  week  and  no  one  been  any 
the  wiser,  but  it  wasn't  my  way,  and  I  never  touched 
a  penny  but  what  was  mine.  Ever  since  the  will 
came  out  all  wrong  I've  made  up  my  mind  as  I'd 
leave  the  money  to  you  when  I  died ;  but  there  !  I 
never  guessed  things  had  got  so  bad  with  you,  so 
you'd  best  have  it  now,  as  it  ain't  no  good  waiting 


74  TIP  CAT. 

till  I'm  gone.  Lor  bless  you  !  I've  a  deal  of  life  left 
in  me  yet ;  I'll  take  another  place  and  save  as  much 
again,  maybe,  before  I'm  laid  on  the  shelf,  and  'twere 
all  saved  in  your  gran'pa's  service,  so,  if  you  ain't 
the  best  right  to  it,  I  don't  know  who  has." 

He  was  talking  very  fast,  and  running  one  sen- 
tence into  another,  to  keep  down  a  gasp  that  was 
rising  in  his  throat,  and  he  thrust  his  hands  deep 
into  his  pockets  to  hide  how  they  were  trembling, 
and  he  interrupted  himself  in  the  very  middle  of  a  sen- 
tence, and  bid  his  young  master  "  Good  night "  in  a 
would-be  jocular  way,  and  went  out  whistling  a 
cracked  air  in  a  minor  key  with  his  quivering  old 
lips. 

It  cost  him  a  great  deal  to  part  with  that  precious 
book,  every  entry  in  which  he  had  by  heart,  and  in 
which  every  small  sum  of  interest  that  had  been 
added  had  been  gloated  over  with  the  keenest  satis- 
faction ;  indeed  it  had  almost  taken  the  place  of  a 
child  to  the  solitary  old  man,  and  it  was  like  sacri- 
ficing an  only  son  when  he  put  the  book  into  Dick's 
hand  and  went  away  bereaved. 

But  it  was  only  for  a  minute,  for  before  he  had 
reached  the  pantry  door  Dick  was  after  him,  and  the 
old  man's  hands,  with  the  precious  book  in  them,  were 


THE  LAST  DA  Y  IN  THE  OLD  HOME.          75 

being  shaken  in  Dick's  strong  affectionate  young 
grasp,  till  the  book  was  crumpled  and  the  hands 
tingling. 

"  Did  you  think  I'd  take  it?  "  Dick  said,  in  a  very 
husky,  choked  voice.  "  Good  old  friend,  God  bless 
you  !  And  I  can't  thank  you,  or  I  shall  make  such 
a  confounded  fool  of  myself,  there'll  be  no  end  of 
it." 

And  away  he  bolted  up  stairs  three  steps  at  a  time 
and  locked  himself  into  his  room,  leaving  Jenkins 
sobbing  and  stroking  out  the  crumpled  pages  %of  his 
precious  book,  half  disappointed,  half  relieved,  and 
not  knowing  how  acts  of  self-sacrificing  love  are  en- 
tered in  another  account,  and  interest  of  untold 
value  added. 


76  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SLOWMILL. 

LETTY  and  Sybil  had  from  the  first  taken  a  very 
hopeful  view  of  the  move  to  Slowmill ;  at  their  age 
every  change  has  infinite  possibilities  of  amusement 
and  when  the  change  involved  entire  freedom  from 
the  tyranny  of  nurse  and  Martha,  and  the  constant 
company  of  Dick,  they  felt  that  nothing  was  left  to 
be  desired.  They  shed  a  few  natural  tears  over  the 
widely-expanded  nostrils  of  the  rocking-horse,  and 
made  their  mouths  very  painty  by  diligently  kissing 
each  of  the  Noah's  Ark  animals,  even  down  to  the 
grasshoppers  and  ladybirds ;  but  when  the  cab  was 
at  the  door,  and  their  box  and  Dick's  portmanteau 
safely  on  the  top,  they  were  in  a  fever  to  be  off,  and 
could  hardly  spare  a  farewell  look  on  the  pleasant 
nursery  which  had  been  their  home  nearly  as  long 
as  the}'  could  remember. 


SLOWMILL.  77 


Dick  even  was  young  enough  to  be  infected  by 
the  children's  good  spirits,  and  Jenkins,  standing 
solitary  on  the  door  step,  saw  three  such  smiling 
faces  drive  away  in  the  cab  that  he  gave  a  little  win- 
try smile  himself,  in  spite  of  the  tears  in  his  eyes. 

The  journey,  too,  was  delightful,  the  third-class 
carriage  having  all  the  charm  of  novelty,  and  Mrs. 
Treasure  having  provided  such  a  store  of  cakes  and 
tarts  and  sandwiches,  as  allowed  not  only  plenty  for 
themselves  but  enough  to  supply  their  fellow  travellers 
liberally,  and  even  to  offer  some  to  the  guard  when 
he  came  to  clip  the  tickets. 

They  were  a  little  tired  by  the  time  they  reached 
Slowmill,  for,  after  the  railway  journey,  came  three 
miles  in  a  very  jolting  omnibus,  in  company  with  a 
very  stout  old  woman,  who  was  precipitated  first  on 
Letty  and  then  on  Sybil,  till  they  were  flattened  both 
in  mind  and  body. 

But  when  they  arrived  at  Slowmill,  and  the  omni- 
bus stopped  before  Mr.  Tysoe's,  and  Mr.  Tysoe 
came  out  himself  in  his  white  apron,  and  smiling 
as  only  he  was  capable  of,  to  lift  the  little  girls 
out,  they  forgot  their  flatness  and  fatigue  in  a 
moment,  and  were  full  of  eager  delight  and  satisfac- 
tion at  their  new  quarters. 


7§  TIP  CA  T. 

Slowmill  is  built  in  the  shape  of  a  Y,  and  just  at 
the  corner  where  the  three  roads  meet  is  situated 
the  shop  of  Tysoe,  grocer  and  tea-dealer  as  is  an- 
nounced over  the  door  in  large  mottled  china  letters, 
and  the  same  legend  is  recorded  in  bits  of  peel  on  a 
brown  sugar  ground  in  one  of  the  windows.  Ty- 
soe's  business  has  been  established  in  Slowmill  from 
father  to  son  for  four  generations,  and  though,  of 
late  years,  a  new  grocer  had  started  in  High  Street 
with  plate  glass  windows  and  co-operative  prices, 
and  the  figure  of  a  Chinaman  with  a  noddirig  head 
in  the  window,  Tysoe  can  afford  to  treat  him  with  the 
contempt  he  deserves,  for  he  makes  no  way  in  the 
world  of  Slowmill. 

At  one  side  of  Tysoe's  shop-front  is  a  private  door, 
very  tall  and  narrow,  with  a  knocker  so  high  up  that 
Letty  and  Sybil  would  require  the  assistance  of  an  um- 
brella to  operate  on  it ;  but  there  was  no  need  of  such 
aid  on  their  arrival,  for  the  door  stood  open,  and  Mrs. 
Tysoe's  portly  figure  and  chestnut  wig  more  than 
filled  up  the  opening,  as  she  stood  hospitably  to  re- 
ceive them,  having  to  retire  gracefully  and  carefully 
backwards  before  any  one  else  could  enter  the  pas- 
sage, and  turn  herself  round  in  the  shop  before 
conducting  the  lodgers  up  the  very  steep  stairs  that 


SLOWMILL.  79 


led  to  the  sitting-room  over  the  shop  that  was  des- 
tined for  their  occupation. 

The  children  were  unfeignedly  delighted  with 
everything ;  with  the  paper  on  the  walls  of  the  pas- 
sage and  staircase,  which  represented  a  fox  hunt  and 
a  huntsman  leaping  a  five-barred  gate,  which,  when- 
ever the  paper  joined,  presented  interesting  combi- 
nations of 'headless  horses  and  mutilated  dogs ;  with 
the  beautifully  cut  yellow  paper  that  protected  the 
gilt  of  the  looking  glass  ;  with  the  water  lily  under  a 
glass  shade  that  stood  on  the  rather  rickety  table  in 
the  window ;  with  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Tysoe  in  her 
youth,  in  black  satin  and  curls,  which  did  not  appear 
to  the  little  girls  at  all  the  same  color  as  her  present 
coiffure  ;  with  the  amber  glass  candlesticks  on  the 
mantlepiece,  and  with  the  hand-screens  painted  by 
Miss  Tysoe  at  boarding  school,  with  flowers  of  pe- 
culiar shape  and  unusual  color. 

The  window  commanded  a  fine  view,  as  Mrs.  Ty- 
soe pointed  out,  of  all  that  went  on  in  the  town, 
which  at  present  seemed  to  be  very  little,  as  a  dog 
stretched  at  full  length  in  the  sun  in  the  very  middle 
of  the  street  was  the  only  living  thing  visible,  and 
conveyed  the  idea  of  the  utter  absence  of  any  fear  of 
being  run  over  by  a  passing  vehicle.  "  But  on  mar. 


8o  TIP  CA  T, 

ket  days,"  Mrs.  Tysoe  said  "as  is  Fridays,  it's  sur- 
prising what  a  deal  of  coming  and  going  there  be." 

The  tea  things  were  laid  on  the  round  table  in  the 
middle  of  the  room,  and  Mrs.  Tysoe  left  them  to 
hasten  the  appearance  of  tea,  after  showing  them 
their  bedrooms,  which  lay  at  the  back  of  the  house — 
"over  the  cheese-room,"  as  she  told  them,  though 
Dick  thought  she  might  have  saved  herself  the  trouble, 
as  the  smell  was  quite  sufficient  to  proclaim  the  fact. 

The  very  smell  was  an  additional  attraction  to  the 
little  girls  and  they  could  not  in  the  least  understand 
why  Dick  caught  them  both  into  his  arms  directly 
Mrs.  Tysoe  was  gone  and  held  them  tightly  to  him 
and  swallowed  as  if  the  smell  of  cheese  were  solid 
and  he  could  not  get  it  down.  It  was  such  a  regular 
grown-up  bedroom  that  the  little  girls  were  to  have,  with 
a  feather  bed  and  drab  moreen  curtains  bound  with 
pale  green,  and  hooks  behind  the  door  to  hang  short 
frocks  at  a  giddy  height  above  the  floor,  and  a  wash- 
ing stand  that  did  not  condescend  to  short  stature  like 
the  one  in  the  nursery  at  home,  but  raised  the  great 
heavy  jug  to  such  a  distance  above  some  people's  heads 
as  made  it  a  serious  question  how  it  could  ever  be 
lifted  down  by  two,  or  even  four,  little  trembling  hands. 

Dick  unstrapped  their  box  for  them,   and,  lifting 


SLOWMILL.  8 1 


the  lid,  looked  rather  forlornly  at  the  closely  packed 
contents  of  mysterious  little  garments — frills  and 
tucks  and  embroideries,  and  pink  and  blue  ribbons — 
in  which  nurse's  and  Martha's  skillful  hands  had  ar- 
rayed his  little  sisters,  and  turned  them  out  such 
dainty  little  ladies.  Already  even  some  of  the  trim- 
ness  and  crispness  had  gone  from  their  appearance. 
Letty's  face  had  a  smear  across  it,  and  Sybil's  hat  was 
crushed  in  on  one  side,  but  they  did  not  at  all  share 
in  Dick's  helpless  dismay,  but  began  at  once  dipping 
and  burrowing  into  the  box,  and  seemed  so  bustling 
and  capable,  that  Dick  left  them  to  their  own  devices 
to  get  ready  for  tea,  and  heard  such  screams  of 
laughter  and  running  about  and  chattering  that  he 
felt  any  pity  or  assistance  was  quite  uncalled  for. 

They  were  almost  too  busy  to  come  in  to  tea,  but 
when  Dick  threatened  to  begin  pouring  it  out  with- 
out them  they  made  their  appearance,  though  their 
toilettes  were  not  quite  complete,  as  one  of  Letty's 
shoes  had  got  lost  in  the  melee,  and  Sybil's  hair  was 
parted  very  much  on  one  side.  They  had  also  for- 
gotten their  pinafores ;  but  this,  I  think,  was  inten- 
tional— as  a  sign  of  their  emancipation  from  nursery 
tyranny. 

Letty  was  to  pour  out  tea,  but  the  big  metal  tea 


82  TIP  CAT. 

pot  was  so  heavy  that  Dick  had  to  come  to  the 
rescue,  as  likewise  he  was  obliged  to  do  with  the 
large  black-handled  knives  and  forks  which,  under 
the  little  girls'  guidance,  made  magic  passes  at  the 
mutton  chops,  without  producing  any  effect  on  those 
substantial  articles. 

But  it  was  all  delightful — the  whiff  of  brown 
sugar  and  bacon  that  pervaded  everything  ;  the 
tinkle  of  the  little  bell  in  the  shop,  when  customers 
came  from  time  to  time  ;  and  the  clacket  of  pattens 
on  the  pavement  outside — all  added  to  the  charm. 
They  had  once  had  a  toy  given  them  representing  a 
grocer's  shop,  with  half-a-dozen  little  drawers  con- 
taining rice  and  coffee,  etc.,  and  a  counter  with  a 
very  infirm  pair  of  scales  in  which  one  coffee  berry 
far  outweighed  all  the  tiny  weights,  and  a  wooden 
man  with  a  red  face  and  a  white  apron,  on  a  stand 
behind  the  counter.  But  the  stock-in-trade  was  soon 
eaten  or  otherwise  disposed  of,  and  nurse  would  not 
replace  it,  and  they  found  beads  and  slate  pencils 
were  dull  substitutes  to  make  believe  with.  But 
here  they  were  brought  in  contact  with  a  real  shop, 
and  might,  perhaps,  be  allowed  sometimes  to  go  be- 
hind the  counter  and  scoop  tea  and  sugar  out  of 
those  inexhaustible  stores,  or  poke  the  taster  into 


SLOWMILL.  83 


the  very  heart  of  a  cheese,  or  pull  down  string  from 
that  patent  sort  of  arrangement  above  the  counter. 
There  was  no  end  to  the  possibilities  that  every  whiff 
from  the  shop  suggested  to  their  lively  imaginations  ; 
and  they  chattered  away  so  fast  that  Dick  had  no  time 
to  feel  melancholy  or  the  children  themselves  to  feel 
tired  till  tea  was  over,  and  all  three  established  on  the 
slippery  horse-hair  sofa,  and  Mrs.  Tysoe  was  clear- 
ing away  tea  and  talking  to  Dick.  Then  silence  fell 
on  the  active  little  tongues,  and  first  one  head 
pressed  against  Dick's  arm  and  then  the  other,  and 
long  lashes  drooped  over  sleepy  eyes,  and  Mrs. 
Tysoe's  voice  grew  indistinct  and  very  like  nurse's, 
and  sleep's  magic  hand  wafted  them  in  a  second  back 
to  the  old  night  nursery,  without  the  aid  of  the  jolting 
omnibus  and  third-class  carriage  ;  and  when  they 
heard  some  one  say,  "  Let  me  put  the  little  dears  to 
bed,  sir,  as  .have  had  children  of  my  own/'  they  did 
not  resent  the  indignity,  as  they  might  have  done 
an  hour  before,  but  let  Mrs.  Tysoe  lead  them  off 
and  assist  largely  in  their  undressing,  and  at  last, 
lift  them  into  the  bed  which  seemed  too  high  to  be 
scaled  by  such  weary  little  bodies,  and  finally  tuck 
them  up  and  give  them  each  a  loud,  smacking 
kiss,  which  did  a  great  deal  to  take  away  the  forlorn- 


84  TIP  CAT. 

ness  which  is  apt  to  creep  over  any  one  when  bed- 
time comes  in  new  quarters. 

There  was  no  one  to  do  the  same  by  Dick  even 
if  it  would  have  produced  the  same  effect  on  him,  so, 
being  left  to  his  own  devices,  he  went  out  to  have  a 
look  round  and  a  pipe  ;  but  the  rain  had  come  on 
and  the  Slowmill  people  seemed  to  go  to  bed  early, 
and  he  came  back  feeling  damp  and  depressed,  and 
inclined  to  pity  himself  and  to  think  of  life  as  if  it 
were  one  of  those  long  straight  roads  to  be  found  in 
France,  leading  on  dull  and  monotonous,  with  only 
a  heap  of  stones  or  a  row  of  stiff  poplars  to  break 
the  dreary  straight  lines,  till  it  is  lost  in  the  distance, 
instead  of  the  pleasant  up  and  down  English  road, 
dipping  into  shady  valleys  or  mounting  sunny  heath- 
lands,  crossing  babbling  streams,  or  winding  through 
parks  and  woods  and  meadows — which  most  of  our 
lives  resemble,  thank  God  ;  or  as  if  it  were  one 
bitter  potion  to  be  drained  at  a  draught,  instead  of 
being,  as  it  is,  so  mercifully  divided  into  little  daily 
doses,  some  of  them  bitter  enough,  no  doubt,  but 
many  of  them  sweet  even  in  the  saddest  lot. 

He  found  Mr.  Tysoe  putting  up  his  shutters,  and 
that  worthy  man  followed  him  upstairs  under  the 
pretence  of  showing  him  a  bit  of  news  in  th.e  Slow- 


SLOWMILL.  85 


mill  Gazette,  which  was  several  days  old  in  the  Lon- 
don papers,  but  really  to  have  a  little  bit  of  gossip, 
which  Mr.  Tysoe  dearly  loved. 

It  was  quite  impossible  to  feel  heroic  or  depressed 
in  Joe  Tysoe's  presence,  he  was  so  sleek  and  smil- 
ing and  pleased  with  himself  and  all  the  world.  There 
is  certainly  something  in  the  sale  of  cheese  that 
produces  a  good  effect  on  the  temper  and  manners. 
Did  you  ever  come  across  a  surly,  ill-tempered 
cheesemonger  ?  I  never  did.  They  may  be  a  trifle 
deceitful  and  flattering  sometimes,  but  never  cross- 
grained  or  sour. 

He  had  a  very  pink  complexion,  and  sandy  hair 
brushed  up  into  a  cockatoo  tuft,  and  light  blue, 
twinkling,  sympathetic  eyes,  and  a  mouth  that  watered 
and  smacked  constantly,  as  if  the  taste  of  that  last 
prime  Cheddar,  or  full-flavored  Cheshire,  lingered  still 
on  his  palate.  He  had  seen  trouble,  too,  in  his  time, 
for  his  father  had  died  when  Joe  was  almost  a  boy, 
and  had  left  his  mother  and  two  sisters  to  his  care, 
and  when  his  sisters  had  married  he  had  taken  to  wife 
one  of  the  Miss  Fullers  at  the  "  George,"  and  she 
had  died  after  only  two  years  of  married  bliss  (that 
is  her  funeral  card  with  a  weeping  willow  and  a 
broken  column  and  a  barrel-bodied  urn  on  it,  that  is 


6  TIP  CAT. 

framed  and  hangs  over  the  mantelpiece  in  the  par- 
lor). That  happened  years  ago,  but  Joe  Tysoe  does 
not  seem  inclined  to  give  her  a  successor,  though 
there  is  a  great  deal  of  giggling  among  the  farmers' 
daughters  who  come  into  Slowmill  on  market  days, 
and  more  subdued  flutter  among  the  young  ladies  of 
the  congregation  when  Mr.  Tysoe  comes  into  chapel 
on  Sunday  evenings,  in  his  black  frock-coat  and  blue 
necktie. 

"  But,"  as  he  told  Dick  that  first  evening,  "  the 
late  Mrs.  Tysoe  were  an  angel,  and  that  sensitive  as 
'twere  quite  surprising.  There's  a  many  good  points 
in  the  fair  sex,"  said  Mr.  Tysoe,  turning  his  head  a 
little  on  one  side,  as  if  he  were  contemplating  the 
beauties  of  a  ripe  Stilton,  "  but  you  don't  often  find 
'em  sensitive." 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Dick,  surprised  that  Mr.  Tysoe 
should  have  found  the  fair  sex  hard-hearted  and  im- 
pervious to  his  attractions,  "  perhaps  you  don't  do 
them  justice." 

"  Now  the  dear  departed  were  a  parable,  that's 
what  she  were,  and  that  sensitive  over  cheese  as  I'd 
trust  her  even  afore  myself  ;  and  often's  the  time  as 
she's  said,  '  Joe,'  (says  she,  '  let  them  cheeses  bide  ' 
or '  Take  to  him,  Joe,'  and  she  were  always  in  the 


SLOWMILL.  87 


right  of  it,  and  if  that  ain't  being  uncommon  sensitive, 
I'd  like  to  know  what  is,"  said  Mr.  Tysoe  with  proud 
conviction.  "  And  when  you  shows  me  another  fit 
to  hold  a  candle  to  her,  I'll  show  you  the  second  Mrs. 
Tysoe." 


TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

< 

TIP    CAT. 

THERE  was  a  great  deal  of  dissent  in  Slowmill. 
The  Tysoes,  as  I  said  in  the  last  chapter,  went  to 
chapel,  having  been  Wesleyans  for  several  genera- 
tions, and  Mrs!  Tysoe  was  a  little  vexed  when  she 
found  that  her  new  lodger  intended  to  go  to  church, 
as  she  had  pictured  to  herself  conducting  Dick  and 
the  little  girls  to  their  seat  in  the  chapel,  under  the 
curious  and  admiring  glances  that  would  be  cast  at 
them,  and  the  slight,  but  touching  allusion  to  be- 
reavement that  Mr.  Parkins,  the  minister,  would  in- 
troduce into  his  prayer  at  sight  of  the  crape  on  the 
children's  hats.  Perhaps  she  would  look  over  a 
hymn-book  with  Dick,  and  she  would  certainly  hold 
a  hand  of  each  little  girl  as  they  went  out  of  chapel. 
And  so  she  felt  quite  disappointed  when  Dick  de- 
clared his  intention  of  going  to  church  and  taking 
Letty  and  Sybil  with  him  ;  and  she  was  still  further 
annoyed  to  find  that  he  had  not  upheld  the  honor 


TIP  CA  T.  89 

and  glory  of  her  lodgings,  but  had  sat  in  one  of  the 
free  seats  among  the  snuffy  old  men  from  the  alms- 
houses,  though  half  the  pews  in  the  church  were 
empty,  and  though  Mr.  Thoyts,  the  ironmonger,  in- 
vited him  into  his  seat. 

He  also  greatly  shocked  Mrs.  Tysoe's  prejudices 
by  taking  the  little  girls  for  a  walk  on  Sunday  after- 
noon. Dick  was  quite  willing  to  fall  in  with  all  the 
arrangements  of  the  house  for  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbath,  and  made  no  complaint  as  to  his  bath  re- 
maining unemptied  and  his  boots  uncleaned,  and  he 
cheerfully  partook  of  a  scrupulously  cold  dinner 
without  even  a  hot  potato  to  relieve  the  frigidity  of 
the  meal ;  but  he  felt  that  a  whole  afternoon  in  the 
little  sitting-room,  with  the  smell  of  dinner  hanging 
about  and  blending  with  the  odors  of  the  shop,  and 
with  the  sun  pouring  in  at  the  window,  was  more 
than  he  could  stand.  The  American  chair  with  the 
crochet  antimacassar  on  the  back,  which  was  the 
only  easy-chair  in  the  room,  was  not  conducive  to 
sleep,  and  the  newspapers  he  had  brought  with  him 
had  been  carefully  put  away  by  Mrs.  Tysoe,  and  a 
few  volumes  of  the  Tract  Magazines  put  in  their 
place,  with  Bunyan's  Holy  War  to  amuse  the  chil- 
dren. 


90  TIP   CAT. 

So  Dick  told  the  little  girls  to  put  on  their  hats 
and  come  out  for  a  turn,  and  as  they  passed  the  door 
of  the  parlor  behind  the  shop,  they  ran  the  gauntlet 
of  Mrs.  Tysoe's  disapproving  glances  as  she  sat  at 
the  table,  very  upright,  in  her  Sunday  cap,  with  a 
large  Bible  open  before  her,  and  Joe  opposite,  in 
his  shirt-sleeves,  with  a  red  spotted  handkerchief 
over  his  head,  which  nodded  backwards  and  forwards 
in  a  spasmodic  manner  that  threatened  occasionally 
to  dislocate  his  neck. 

Outside,  the  street  looked  a  little  more  lively  than 
it  had  done  the  night  before,  as  there  were  parties 
of  children  hurrying  to  the  various  dissenting  Sunday 
schools,  leaving  a  whiff  of  peppermint  and  hair-oil 
as  they  passed,  and  clusters  of  hobbledehoys,  with 
shining  faces  and  billycock  hats,  knocking  their  heels 
against  the  edge  of  the  pavement,  waiting  to  be 
taken  in  tow  by  the  servant  girls  who  came  waggling 
along  in  all  the  glories  of  their  Sunday  out,  and  with 
whom  they  pair  off  and  spend  all  the  afternoon,  walk- 
ing out  of  step  and  hardly  speaking  a  word,  but  ap- 
parently to  their  mutual  satisfaction. 

Dick  and  the  little  girls  soon  left  these  interesting 
couples  and  Slowmill  itself  behind  them,  and  taking 
the  first  turning  from  the  main  road  that  looked  in- 


TIP  CAT.  91 

teresting,  went  along  a  winding  road  under  great 
elm  trees,  whose  branches  met  and  interlaced  over- 
head, which,  in  summer,  must  have  cast  a  thick 
shade,  but  now  only  made  a  delicate  lace  work  against 
the  pale  blue  February  sky,  and  let  the  sunlight 
through  in  patches  on  the  sandy  road  and  on  the 
glossy  ivy  in  the  hedge. 

This  road  brought  them,  after  a  time,  to  a  pretty 
lodge  and  a  park  gate,  through  which  Letty  and 
Sybil  were  anxious  to  turn,  but  Dick  persuaded  them 
to  come  further,  and  they  were  rewarded  by  coming 
to  a  stile  and  a  footpath  that  led  them  to  a  delight- 
ful little  wood,  through  which  a  stream  ran,  crossed 
by  a  plank  bridge.  The  stream  was  clear,  and 
showed  the  rich  brown  oak-leaves  lying  in  layers  at 
the  bottom,  and  the  little  girls  found  an  interesting 
family  of  frogs  on  the  bank,  who,  they  intuitively 
understood,  required  assistance  to  reach  the  water ; 
so  Dick  sat  down  on  the  plank  to  wait  till  this  man- 
oeuvre was  accomplished,  dropping  pebbles  slowly 
into  the  stream,  which  caused  a  rippling  eddy  on  the 
smooth  surface,  a  momentary  disturbance  on  the  oak 
leaf  carpet,  and  a  little  cloud  of  mud  to  rise  in  the 
water,  and  then  the  pebble  disappeared  and  the 
water  was  clear  again. 


92  TIP  CAT. 

That  idle  occupation  of  dropping  pebbles,  and  a 
shaft  of  sunlight  that  came  through  the  trees  on  the 
water,  had  combined  to  conjure  up  a  vision  of  the 
river  at  Commemoration  time,  and  a  picnic  at  Nune- 
ham,  and  a  girl's  face  that  had  smiled  at  him  through 
a  pleasant  sunny  afternoon,  and  that  had  grown  a 
little  pensive  and  thoughtful  as  the  moon  rose  over 
the  beeches  and  turned  the  oars  silver  as  they  gently 
dipped  and  rose.  Kathie,  she  was  called,  Kathie 
Dumbleton,  and  her  cousin  Jack  had  been  Dick's 
great  chum. 

Dick  had  had  a  good  many  flirtations  in  his  time, 
very  innocent,  harmless  episodes,  that  had  not  cost 
a  wakeful  night  or  a  heartache  to  either  of  the  parties 
concerned,  and  his  feeling  for  Kathie  Dumbleton 
had  only  been  a  shade  or  two  more  intense  than  for 
half-a-dozen  others,  and  most  likely  would  soon  have 
been  superseded  by  as  many  more  but  for  the  sud- 
den change  in  his  fortunes,  which  had  taken  him 
clear  out  of  the  way  of  temptation  of  the  kind,  and 
had  accordingly  deepened  the  last  impression  made 
on  his  susceptible  fancy,  till  it  threatened  to  touch 
his  heart  and  become  indelible. 

Jack  had  taken  his  degree  and  gone  out  to  India 
the  year  before,  having  some  good  civil  appointment, 


TIP  CAT.  93 

so  he  had  heard  nothing  as  yet  of  Dick's  sudden 
change  of  circumstances,  and  perhaps  never  might, 
for  Dick  was  a  poor  correspondent  at  the  best  of 
times,  and  had  not  the  heart  now  to  write  and  say 
how  entirely  all  his  prospects  in  life  were  altered. 

"  She  will  go  to  Commemoration,"  Dick  told  him- 
self, "  and  some  other  fellow  will  row  her  up  the 
river,  and  put  on  her  shawl,  and  all  the  rest  of  it, 
confound  him  !  and  she  won't  even  remember  the 
existence  of  poor  Dick  Lucas,  or  if  she  does,  and 
the  fellows  tell  her  how  I  have  come  to  grief,  she 

will  say " 

"  I'll  trouble  you  to  get  out  of  the  road." 
Dick  was  rudely  awakened  from  his  day-dream  by 
a  rough,  imperious  voice,  and  became  aware  that  a 
tall  man  was  standing  close  by,  waiting  to  cross  the 
bridge.  His  appearance  by  no  means  justified  the 
commanding  tone  of  his  voice,  for  his  shabby  velve- 
teen coat  and  gaiters  looked  like  a  gamekeeper's, 
and  his  big  hob-nailed  shoes  like  a  ploughboy's,  and 
the  felt  hat  he  wore  was  so  battered  and  weather- 
stained  that  a  scarecrow  might  have  been  ashamed 
of  it.  He  had  a  long,  untrimmed,  grey  moustache 
and  deep-set  eyes  of  a  light  color  unusual  with  such 
a  dark  complexion,  which  gave  a  sort  of  wolfish  ex- 


94  TIP  CAT. 

pression  to  his  face  as  he  stood  looking  down  at 
Dick,  an  expression  which  was  strangely  repeated  in 
the  face  of  the  big,  rough,  surly- looking  sheep-dog  at 
his  heels. 

Dick  scrambled  to  his  feet  to  make  way  for  him 
with,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  and  lifted  his  hat, 
for  in  spite  of  the  man's  shabby  clothes  and  his 
rough,  countrified  accent,  he  recognized  the  new 
comer  as  a  gentleman. 

"  You'll  be  good  enough  to  tell  Mrs.  Vivian  that  this 
path  is  private."  went  on  the  tall  man,  "  and  not 
part  of  the  park." 

"  I  shall  be  happy  to  take  any  message,  but  I  have 
not  the  pleasure  of  knowing  Mrs.  Vivian." 

"  Ain't  you  stopping  at  Tipton  Grange  ?  " 

"  I  never  heard  of  such  a  place." 

"  Well,  where  on  earth  do  you  come  from  then  ? " 

Dick  was  beginning  to  get  a  little  nettled  at  the 
man's  hectoring  manner.  "That,"  he  said,  "is  my 
business.  If  this  is  a  private  path,  and  I  am  tres- 
passing, I  can  only  say  I  did  not  know  it  and  go 
some  other  way.  Sybil !  Letty  !  "  he  called,  "  I'm 
going  back.  Are  you  ready  ?  " 

"  Oh,  Dick,  wait  a  minute,  there  are  four  more 
frogs  with  such  poor,  dry,  dusty  bodies." 


TIP  CAT.  95 

"  Never  mind  the  frogs.     I  can't  wait." 

"We  won't  be  a  minute,  really  we  won't,  but  they 
will  go  -hopping  off  quite  the  wrong  way,  and  Sybil 
don't  like  taking  them  up  under  their  arms,  they're 
so  awfully  soft.  And  Dick,  may  we  take  one  dar- 
ling little  one  home  with  us  ?  It's  the  smallest  little 
frog,  and  we're  afraid  it's  lost  its  mother,  and  we 
could  keep  it  in  our  bedroom." 

Letty  came  climbing  up  the  steep  bank  from  the 
stream  as  she  spoke,  with  her  face  turned  up  so 
bright  and  smiling  and  entreating,  that  Dick  found 
it  a  hard  matter  to  say  a  decided  no  and  tell  her  to 
fetch  Sybil  at  once  and  say  good-by  to  the  frogs. 

"  But  you'll  bring  us  back  another  day  to  see  how 
they're  getting  on ;  there's  one  we've  called  Uncle 
Tom  because  he's  so  like,  and  we  think  he's  got  the 
gout,  so  we  may  come  back  another  day  soon,  mayn't 
we  ? " 

"  No,"  said  Dick,  "  we  must  find  another  place  for 
frogs,  for  this  is  private,  and  we're  trespassing  ?" 

"  You  needn't  be  in  such  a  hurry,"  growled  the 
man,  who  had  been  standing  silently  on  the  bridge 
looking  down  at  the  child  with  those  strange  light 
eyes  of  his.  "  If  you're  not  visitors  at  the  Grange 
it  don't  matter.  If  I  don't  look  sharply  after  them  I 


96  TIP  CAT. 

shouldn't  have  a  bit  of  peace  or  privacy.  I've  had 
gushing  young  ladies  sketching  my  old  house,  though 
it's  so  ugly  they  couldn't  make  it  worse  even  in  those 
things  they  call  sketches  ;  and  jackanapes  of  young 
men  shooting  right  into  my  poultry  yard,  and  fishing 
in  my  duck-pond — the  idiots  !  And  prying  women 
taking  refuge  from  a  thunderstorm  and  poking  their 
noses  all  over  my  place,  and  the  old  lady  herself 
sending  to  ask  my  advice  and  borrow  my  horses.  I 
flatter  myself  I've  taught  them  better  by  this  time, 
but  when  I  saw  you  there  I  thought  madam  was  up 
to  some  of  her  old  tricks  again." 

"Well,"  said  Dick,  "I'm  just  going.  Come, 
Letty."  For  Letty  was  gravely  regarding  the  old 
man  with  a  sort  of  fascinated  curiosity,  a  scrutiny 
that  was  returned  by  the  deep-set  eyes  above,  while 
every  now  and  then  they  turned  a  quick  look  at 
Dick  as  if  they  were  comparing  the  two  faces  and 
seeking  something  in  both. 

"  Didn't  I  say  you  needn't  be  in  such  a  hurry  ? 
What  did  you  say  your  name  was? " 

"  I  didn't  say." 

The  man  gave  a  jerk  of  irritation  to  his  shoulders, 
but  just  then  a  scream  from  Sybil  interrupted  the 
conversation. 


TIP  CAT.  97 

"  Oh,  Dick  !  Letty  !  Dick  !  there's  a  horrid  great 
ugly  dog,  and  he's  killed  one  of  the  frogs.  Go 
away  !  Go  away  !  Oh  Dick  !  " 

Letty  and  Dick  both  flew  to  the  rescue,  followed 
by  the  man  from  whose  side  the  sheep-dog  had  dis- 
appeared a  moment  before  unnoticed^  and  they 
found  Sybil  pushing  away  the  creature's  great  grizzly 
head  with  all  her  might,  while  he  looked  at  her  with 
much  the  same  curious  look  in  his  light  eyes  that  his 
master  had  given  to  Letty. 

A  whistle  from  his  master  called  the  dog  away  in 
a  second,  and  Sybil  soon  regained  her  composure, 
and  Dick  pronounced  the  frog,  though  flattened,  not 
past  all  hope  of  recovery  if  put  at  once  into  the  water 
and  left  in  perfect  quiet ;  and  as  in  the  meantime 
the  other  frogs  had  hopped  away,  Letty  and  Sybil 
agreed  to  go  back  without  further  delay. 

But  as  they  came  out  on  Co  the  road  across  the 
stile  Letty  fell  back  to  pick  some  red  and  yellow  ivy 
leaves,  and  Dick,  looking  round,  saw  that  the  old 
man  had  followed  them  and  was  speaking  to  her. 

"  Letty,  Letty  !  "  he  called,  and  she  ran  on,  turn- 
ing at  the  stile  to  nod  and  wave  her  hand  to  the 
strange  looking  couple,  master  and  dog,  standing 
watching  her. 


98  TIP  CAT. 

"  What  did  he  say  to  you  ?  " 

"  He  asked  what  my  name  was  and  I  told  him,  and 
he  said  it  was  a  pretty  name  and  that  we  might  come 
and  see  the  frogs  whenever  we  like,  and  that  if  we 
go  on  through  the  wood  we  shall  come  to  his  house, 
and  he  has  »some  young  ducks  and  lots  of  things  to 
show  us.  And  then  I  asked  what  his  name  was,  and 
he  said — what  do  you  think,  Dick  ?  such  a  funny 
name—'  Tip  Cat.'  " 


THE  NE  W  LIFE.  99 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   NEW   LIFE. 

MR.  BURGESS'S  house  was  a  large,  dull,  red-brick 
house  in  High  Street,  and  his  offices  lay  behind, 
opening  out  of  a  little  steep  side-street,  with  a  flour 
mill  and  some  stables  just  opposite.  You  had  to  go 
up  a  narrow  flight  of  wooden  stairs  to  reach  the 
offices,  which  were  on  the  first  floor,  and  at  the  top 
found  yourself  in  the  outer  office,  where  the  office 
boy  and  Mr.  Macintosh  sat,  and  out  of  this  led  Mr. 
Lupton's  room  and  Mr.  Burgess's,  the  latter  of  which 
communicated  with  the  house. 

Mr.  Lupton  was  the  head  clerk  of  whom  Mr. 
Murchison  had  spoken  as  managing  most  of  the  busi- 
ness, and  in  his  room  Dick  was  to  sit,  except  when 
Mr.  Burgess  wanted  him. 

Dick   did    not   find   either   Mr.    Lupton    or  Mr. 


ioo  TIP  CAT. 

• 

Macintosh  inclined  to  received  him  very  warmly,  or 
to  do  much  to  put  him  in  the  way  of  his  new  work  ; 
for  the  latter  had  quite  counted  on  taking  Fred 
•Burgess's  place,  and  felt  himself  aggrieved  and 
passed  over  when,  as  he  said,  "a  chap^rom  London 
was  put  over  his  head  who  knew  no  more  of  business 
than-  a  baby,  and  gave  himself  all  the  airs  of  a  swell." 

Mr.  Lupton's  disinclination  to  Dick  was  from  a 
different  cause.  Young  Mr.  Fred,  as  the  nephew 
was  called  in  the  office  and  in  Slowmill  generally, 
had  carried  on  a  strong  flirtation  with  Bessie  Lupton, 
the  old  clerk's  pretty  daughter,  and  wild  and  dis- 
sipated as  old  Lupton  knew  the  young  man  to  be  he 
had  encouraged  the  flirtation,  and  built  on  it  a  day 
dream  of  the  future  when  Mr.  Fred  would  have  suc- 
ceeded his  uncle  in  the  business,  and  his  Bessie 
would  be  mistress  of  the  red-brick  house  adjoining, 
and  Burgess  and  Lupton  would  be  the  name  on  the 
door-plate. 

With  this  end  in  view  he  had  put  up  with  much 
from  Mr.  Fred,  with  a  great  deal  of  insolence  and 
personal  rudeness,  as  well  as  with  his  unpunctuality 
and  want  of  attention  to  business,  sometimes  staying 
on  himself  after  hours  to  make  up  for  the  work  the 
young  man  had  neglected,  while  Mr.  Fred  was  play- 


THE. NEW  LIFE. 


ing  billiards  at  the  Swan,  or  away  at  coursing  matches 
with  some  of  the  fast  young  farmers  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  more  than  once  he  had  lent  him  some 
money  when  he  was  in  difficulties  and  had  exhausted 
his  uncle's  patience.  But  it  had  all  led  to  nothing 
but  disappointment  and  vexation  and  loss  ;  Bessie 
was  broken-hearted,  his  money  was  gone,  and  Mr. 
Burgess  was  inclined  to  lay  "some  of  the  blame  on 
him.  You  may  be  sure  that  after  this  Mr.  Lupton 
was  not  inclined  to  be  indulgent  to  Dick,  especially 
as  Dick  was  a  very  different  style  to  Mr.  Fred,  and 
did  not  show  the  slightest  inclination  to  console 
Bessie's  broken  heart — which,  I  fancy,  was  quite  open 
to  consolation. 

Mr.  Burgess  was  disposed  to  like  Dick,  Mr. 
Murchison  had  spoken  so  strongly  in  his  favor,  and 
he  was  so  gentlemanly  and  respectful  in  his  manner, 
and  so  patient  during  the  long  hours  of  copying  and 
writing  from  dictation,  over  which  his  nephew  had 
fumed  and  fidgeted,  and  he  was  not  always  pulling 
out  his  watch  or  whistling  under  his  breath  or  draw- 
ing on  the  blotting  paper,  as  Fred  had  done  ;  and 
the  only  fault  to  be  found  at  all  was  his  tendency 
to  look  out  of  window  when  seven  o'clock  ap- 
proached to  see  if  his  two  little  sisters  had  come  to 


102  TIP  CAT. 

meet  him,  as  they  generally  did  ;  and  the  only  occa- 
sion on  which  he  suggested  that  it  was  time  to  leave 
off,  was  one  wet  evening,  when  a  large  umbrella  was 
to  be  seen  standing  patiently  at  the  corner  very  near 
the  ground  and  sent  whirling  round  when  any  one 
passed  by  and  knocked  against  it. 

"  Of  course,"  Mr.  Burgess  told  himself,  "  it  is  a 
case  of  new  broom  at  present,  and  by  the  time  he 
gets  to  know  every  worthless  young  scamp  in  the 
place  it  will  be  a  very  different  matter." 

But  Dick  did  not  seem  inclined  to  make  friends ; 
he  had  made  heaps  at  Oxford,  and  some  might  have 
objected  to  him  there,  that  he  was  not  very  particu- 
lar. On  the  whole,  I  think  it  was  more  by  good  for- 
tune than  by  discrimination  that  he  had  known  a  good 
set,  for  any  one  who  was  good-natured  and  liked  him, 
he  liked  in  return  ;  but  now  the  change  in  his  for- 
tunes seemed  to  have  made  him  more  fastidious. 
Certainly  he  had  no  fancy  for  the  company  in  the 
Swan — the  sporting  doctor,  Dr.  Lee,  and  his  partner 
Mr.  Shore,  and  the  two  managing  clerks  at  the 
brewery  and  two  or  three  at  the  bank.  They  all  called 
themselves  gentlemen,  though  Mr.  Murchison  said 
there  were  no  gentlemen  in  Slowmill,  and  Dick  was  in- 
clined to  think  he  was  more  correct  in  his  estimate 


THE  NE  W  LIFE.  103 

than  they  were,  and  he  responded  so  coolly  to  their  ci- 
vilities that  they  very  soon  set  him.  down  as  a  stuck- 
up  prig,  and  left  him  to  himself. 

The  Miss  Shores,  of  whom  there  were  five,  who 
spent  most  of  their  time  in  walking  up  and  down 
High  Street,  or  looking  out  of  window,  and  the  Miss 
Aliens,  the  mill-owner's  daughters,  tried  their  fasci- 
nations on  Dick  in  vain,  and  he  ran  the  gauntlet  of 
the  Shores'  windows  without  turning  a  hair,  and 
even  met  the  five  in  their  most  elaborate  toilets, 
walking  abreast,  with  no  more  interest  than  if  they 
had  been  five  charity  children  or  five  perambulators. 

Something  of  Dick's  story  had  crept  out  in  Slow- 
mill,  and  the  young  ladies  of  the  town  agreed  that 
it  was  quite  romantic  and  like  a  novel,  and  that  he 
must  be  awfully  interesting,  and  for  the  first  few 
days  it  was  wonderful  how  many  occasions  for  calling 
at  Mr.  Tysoe's  shop  arose,  or  how  often  they  were 
passing  Mr.  Burgess's  just  when  office  hours  were 
over  and  Dick  coming  out.  But  he  presented  such 
an  impenetrable  front  of  indifference  that  they  soon 
grew  discouraged,  and,  as  a  fresh  clerk  appeared  at 
the  bank  the  following  week,  of  a  more  susceptible 
nature  than  Dick,  they  gave  the  latter  up  as  a  bad 
job,  declaring  that  he  was  really  too  low,  as  he  had 


104  TIPCAT. 

been  seen  sitting  in  the  parlor  behind  the  shop, 
smoking  a  pipe  with  the  grocer,  and  he  actually  let 
those  little  girls  ride  about  in  Tysoe's  cart ! 

They  had  not  the  intelligence  to  attack  Dick 
through  his  little  sisters.  I  think  kindness  to  them 
would  have  covered  a  multitude  of  vulgarities,  curled 
fringes,  waggling  crinolettes,  and  country-town  airs 
and  graces ;  and  the  Tysoes  won  Dick's  heart  alto- 
gether, for  Mrs.  Tysoe  took  the  children  at  once  into 
her  motherly  care,  while  the  little  grocer  seemed 
never  tired  of  their  society,  and  found  them  endless 
occupation  and  amusement. 

The  first  morning,  when  Dick  went  off  to  the  office 
he  left  them  with  a  very  heavy  heart.  One  day  had 
been  enough  to  make  him  sick  to  death  of  that  little 
sitting-room  with  nothing  to  do,  and  he  judged  the 
children's  feelings  by  his  own  ;  but  he  might  have 
spared  the  pity  he  expended  on  them,  for  when  he 
came  in  at  dinner  time,  he  found  they  had  had  a 
most  delightful  morning,  as  busy  as  bees,  with  Mr. 
Tysoe,  unpacking  a  large  case  of  goods  that  had 
just  arrived  from  Bristol,  grinding  coffee,  nipping 
white  sugar  into  lumps,  and  turning  cheeses,  and  they 
besieged  him  with  entreaties  to  let  them  go  for  a 
drive  in  the  afternoon  with  Mr.  Tysoe. 


THE  NEW  LIFE.  105 


Three  times  a  week,  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays, 
and  Saturdays,  Mr.  Tysoe's  cart  drove  round  Slow- 
mill  and  its  neighborhood  to  deliver  parcels  and  to 
call  for  orders.  It  was  a  high  spring  cart  with  red 
wheels,  and  it  was  drawn  by  a  large  rawboned  gray 
horse,  with  big  hairy  feet,  and  a  patient,  long-suffer- 
ing temper,  and  having  legs  usually  adorned  with 
knee-caps,  either  for  the  prevention  or  cure  of  broken 
knees.  On  other  occasions  this  horse  did  duty  in 
the  omnibus  to  and  from  the  station  ;  so  Tysoe's 
cart,  even  when  most  loaded  with  parcels,  must  have 
seemed  easy  work,  especially  under  Tysoe's  gentle 
driving,  with  long  intervals  of  rest  and  a  mouthful  of 
grass  at  the  various  houses  and  farms  while  Tysoe 
indulged  in  gossip  and  mild  flirtations  with  the  in- 
mates. 

Dick  felt  rather  a  qualm  when  he  was  asked  by 
Letty  and  Sybil  to  give  his  consent  to  their  going  for 
a  drive,  and  Mrs.  Tysoe  herself  hardly  thought  it 
was  the  proper  thing  to  do  ;  but  the  children  were  so 
urgent,  and  the  afternoon  so  bright,  and  there  was 
no  one  to  take  them  for  a  walk,  as  Mrs.  Tysoe  had 
to  keep  the  shop  while  her  son  was  absent,  that  Dick 
could  not  find  it  in  his  heart  to  say  no,  and,  later  in 
the  afternoon,  he  caught  a  glimpse  from  the  office 


106  TIP  CAT. 

•window  of  the  cart  as  it  stopped  to  deliver  a  parcel 
at  Mr.  Burgess's  back  door,  with  Letty  holding  the 
reins  and  Sybil  the  whip,  and  Tysoe  sitting  between 
beaming  with  good-nature. 

Dick  could  not  help  wondering  what  Aunt  Maria 
would  say  if  she  could  see  them ;  but  they  looked  so 
thoroughly  pleased  and  delighted  that  he  made  up 
his  mind  that  he  would  not  worry  about  it,  and  that 
as  long  as  they  kept  well  and  happy  he  would  be 
content  for  the  present. 

As  to  their  being  happy,  there  was  no  doubt  about 
that.  Their  life  in  Bedford  Place  when  Dick  was 
away,  had  been,  in  spite  of  its  comfort,  very  monoto- 
nous, and  everything  at  Slowmill  was  new  and  deeply 
interesting  to  them,  and  they  chattered  away  all  tea- 
time,  and  afterwards,  with  such  bright  eyes  and 
flushed  cheeks  that  Dick  thought  they  would  be  too 
excited  to  sleep,  till  he  looked  into  their  room  half 
an  hour  after  Mrs.  Tysoe  had  carried  them  off,  and 
saw  them  fast  asleep  under  the  shade  of  the  stuffy 
moreen  curtains. 

They  had  so  much  to  tell  Dick  of  their  drive,  and 
of  the  grey  horse,  which,  from  all  accounts,  was  a 
marvel  of  spirit  and  speed,  and  which  Mr.  Tysoe  had 
let  them  both  drive.  They  had  called  at  Tipton 


THE  NEW  LIFE.  107 

Grange  and  several  other  gentlemen's  houses,  and 
described  them  all  entirely  from  a  back-door  point 
of  view.  There  was  a  very  nice  cook  at  one  place 
who  was  making  tarts,  and  brought  them  each  out 
one  ;  and  there  was  a  parrot  in  one  kitchen,  and  a 
fierce  dog  in  another,  who  broke  his  chain  once,  and 
tried  to  bite  Mr.  Tysoe.  The  little  girls  evidently 
thought  that  the  servants  were  the  real  masters  and 
mistresses  of  the  houses,  and  I  dare  say  they  were 
not  always  very  wide  of  the  mark. 

But  the  farms  were  the  nicest  places  to  go  to, 
cheese  farms  with  great  sweet-smelling  dairies,  with 
milk-tins  as  bright,  and  shelves  as  white,  and  bricks 
as  red  and  damp  as  tins  and  shelves  and  bricks  can 
be,  and  as  rubbing  and  scrubbing  and  washing  can 
make  them,  and  long,  cool  cheese  rooms  with  rows 
of  cheeses,  some  of  them  just  out  of  the  press,  soft 
and  moist,  and  others  more  hardened  characters. 

The  roads  to  these  farms  were  through  meadows 
where  large,  white-faced,  long-horned  cows  were  feed- 
ing, and  there  was  generally  a  yard  full  of  grunting 
little  pigs,  or  troops  of  gobbling  turkeys,  or  something 
equally  interesting  and  instructive.  At  each  farm 
the  children  were  hospitably  welcomed,  and  refresh- 
ment of  one  kind  or  another  offered — a  drink  of  cool 


io8  TIP  CAT. 

whey,  or  a  crusty  bit  of  home-baked  bread,  hot  from 
the  oven,  or  a  waxy  yellow  apple  that  had  stood  all 
the  winter  on  the  turned-up  wine  glasses  on  the 
shelf  in  the  best  parlor. 

"  And  who  do  you  think  we  saw,  Dick  ?  "  Sybil 
ended.  "  Dont  tell  him,  Letty,  let  him  guess.  Some 
one  you  know." 

Dick's  heart  beat  a  little  quicker.  Could  any  one 
he  knew  have  turned  up,  a  ghost  out  of  the  old  life, 
and  have  seen  the  children  driving  about  in  the 
cart,  and  perhaps  asked  questions,  and  wondered 
and  pitied  ? 

"  Who  was  it  ?  "  he  asked.     "  I'm  bad  at  guessing." 
"  It  begins  with  a  T,  doesn't  it,  Letty  ?  and  he 

had  some  one  with  him  beginning  with  a What 

does  Kaiser  begin  with,  Letty?" 

"  I  give  it  up,  Syb  ;  I'm  bad  at  spelling." 

"  Why,  Tip  Cat  to  be  sure,  and  Kaiser's  his  dog." 


WEEKLY  BILLS.  109 


CHAPTER  X. 

WEEKLY    BILLS. 

"  WHO  is  this  man,  Tip  Cat,  the  children  talk  of  ?  " 
asked  Dick,  one  evening. 

It  was  that  evening  towards  the  end  of  the  first 
week,  when  some  Argus  eye  had  detected  him  smok- 
ing a  pipe  with  Joe  Tysoe  in  the  parlor  behind  the 
shop. 

"  Well,  he's  a  queer  customer,"  said  Mr.  Tysoe  ; 
"  and  it's  queer  too  your  asking  about  him  just  now, 
as  he  were  in  the  shop  not  half  an  hour  before  you 
come  in  from  Burgess's,  asking  much  the  same  about 
you — where  you  come  from,  how  your  name  was 
spelt,  and  goodness  knows  what  all ;  and  when  I 
tells  you  as  he  ain't  been  in  the  town,  to  my  know- 
ledge, for  nigh  upon  five  years,  you  may  be  bound 
he's  up  to  something." 

"  I'm  sure  I'm  much  obliged  to  him,"  said  Dick ; 


HO  TIP  CAT. 

"  but  I  don't  see  what  business  it  is  of  his.  Who 
is  he  ? " 

"  Well  of  course,  his  name   ain't  really  Tip  Cat, 

though  every  one  calls  him  so,  and  I  didn't  know  as 
he  was  aware  of  it  till  he  told  little  Miss  as  that  were 
his  name.  Squire  Tipton  Cathcart  is  his  name  by 
rights,  and  all  the  Tipton  property  belongs  to  him, 
though  he  chooses  to  let  it  all  and  live  in  a  little 
farm  like  a  helmet.  The  old  squire  were  a  very  dif- 
ferent sort.  It  were  before  my  time,  but  I've  often 
heard  tell  of  him ;  he  had  a  pack  of  hounds,  and 
kep'  the  whole  place  alive  with  a  house  always  full 
of  company,  and  plenty  of  goings  on.  He  was 
thrown  in  the  hunting  field  and  killed,  when  this 
here  Tip  Cat,  as  they  call  him,  was  only  a  lad;  so 
the  place  was  let  till  he  come  of  age,  and  the  property 
were  to  be  nursed  up  for  him  a  bit,  as  the  old  squire 
had  run  through  a  lot  of  money  in  his  time.  But 
when  he  come  of  age  he  let  the  place  again  for  seven 
years,  and  when  these  was  over  there  was  a  great 
talk  of  his  coming  back,  and  folks  said  the  good  old 
times  of  Slowmill  was  coming  back  along  with  him. 
But  all  of  a  sudden  we  heard  as  the  place  was  to  be 
let  again.  There  were  all  sorts  of  stories  afloat 
about  it  ;  some  would  have  it  as  he'd  lost  his  money 


WEEKL  Y  BILLS. 


at  cards,  and  some  as  his  lawyer  had  made  off  with 

it,  and  some  as  the  young  lady  he  wanted  had  jilted 

him.     I  don't  think  no  one  knew  the  real  rights  of 

it,  but  anyhow  the  Grange  was  let  again,  and,  after 

another  few  years,  he  come  back  and  settled  in  the 

little  home  farm,  with  not  a  soul  but  an  old  corporal 

from  his  regiment,  who  does  all  the  work  about  the 

place,  for  he  won't  have  a  petticoat  inside  his  doors 

— which  favors  the  tale  as  he'd  been  served  bad  by 

some  young    lady.     He   won't  have  nothing  to  do 

with  his  neighbors ;  he  farms  a  little  of  his  land,  and 

keeps  a  nice  little  bit  of  shooting,  and  is  out  with 

the  hounds  most  days.     I  calls  there  twice  a  week 

with  the  groceries   they  use,  which  ain't  much,  but 

it's  not  once  in  six  months  as  I  sees  Tip  Cat  himself, 

but   only   old    Ridge,  a   surly   old   ruffian   as   ever 

breathed ;  but  on   Monday,  as  luck  would  have  it, 

just  as  we  drives  up  to  the  gate  up  comes  Tip  Cat, 

with  his  gun  in  his  hand.     I  were  just  going  to  tell 

the  little  Missies  not  to  take  no  notice,  as  he  don't 

like  to  be  looked  at,  and  speaks  rough  now  and  then 

if  he's  put   out,    when  Miss  Letty,   she   sings   out, 

'  How  de  do,  Tip  Cat ! '  says  she,  '  is  this  where  you 

live  ? '     I  was  just  took  all  of  a  heap,  and  I'd  a  good 

mind  to  drive  right  off  before  he'd  time  to  get  in  a 


112  TIP  CAT. 

rage  ;  but  he  took  off  his  hat  to  the  children  as 
grand  as  milord,  and  said,  '  Yes,'  says  he,  '  this  is 
my  house.  Are  you  come  to  see  the  ducks  ? '  '  No, 
not  to-day,'  said  Miss  Letty,  very  important,  as  if 
she'd  all  the  business  in  the  world  on  her  shoulders, 
'  we're  busy.  We've  a  lot  of  places  to  call  at,  and 
we've  brought  you.  some  mustard  and  black  lead, 
nothing  nice,  but  we'll  come  another  day  if  you  like.' 
I  had  to  get  out  to  take  the  parcels  up  to  the  door, 
and  old  Ridge  was  looking  out  some  bottles  as  he 
wanted  me  to  take  back,  so  I  was  kep'  a  minute  or 
two,  and  all  the  time  I  could  hear  the  children  chat- 
tering away  to  Tip  Cat,  and  he  answering  back  gruff, 
but  kind  and  friendly  like,  leaning  on  the  wall  and 
looking  at  them  as  if  he  couldn't  take  his  eyes  off 
them,  or  as  if  he  was  taking  their  photographs,  and 
his  dog  was  sitting  up  on  the  wall  close  against  him, 
staring  just  every  bit  the  same.  I'd  never  had  such  a 
near  look  at  them  before,  and  they  are  a  queer-look- 
ing couple  as  ever  I  set  eyes  on  ;  but  it's  plain  hc've 
took  a  fancy  to  the  little  Missies,  and  especially  to 
Miss  Letty — and  no  wonder  ? "  said  Mr.  Tysoe, 
"  bless  their  dear  little  hearts  !  It  was  too  wet  for 
the  children  to  come  along  of  me  this  afternoon,  and 
they  was  disappointed,  but  mother,  she  let  'em  help 


If'EEA'L  Y  BILLS.  1 1 3 


in  the  shop,  weighing  out  quarters  of  tea  against 
Friday,  and  they  was  as  good  as  gold,  only  they  al- 
ways wants  to  put  a  pinch  too  much,  as  don't  answer 
when  you've  got  to  make  a  profit.  Tip  Cat  was 
on  the  look  out  for  them  all  the  same,  though  he 
couldn't  have  thought  I'd  have  brought  them  out 
raining  cats  and  dogs  ;  and  this  evening  he  comes 
tramping  in,  as  I  told  you,  and  asks  no  end  of  ques- 
tions, the  main  of  them  as  I  couldn't  answer,  and  he 
left  word  as  how  he'd  be  glad  to  see  you  and  the 
little  ladies  on  Sunday  if  you  liked  to  walk  that  way. 
I  didn't  say  nothing  about  it  before  the  mother,"  Joe 
Tysoe  went  on,  lowering  his  voice  as  that  lady's 
substantial  tread  sounded  on  the  staircase,  "  as 
don't  hold  with  visiting  on  the  Sabbath.  No 
more  don't  I,"  added  Joe,  trying  to  assume  a  severe 
and  Puritanical  expression  ;  "  but  I've  heard  tell  as 
there's  a  deal  of  that  sort  of  thing  in  London,  and  if 
you're  used  to  a  thing  it  don't  seem  so  wrong." 

Dick  was  inclined  to  resent  Tip  Cat's  curiosity 
about  him  and  the  children,  and  he  was  rather  glad 
when  Letty  and  Sybil  decided  on  going  a  different 
way  on  Sunday  afternoon,  to  a  lane  where  they  had 
seen  some  early  primroses. 

OD  Saturday  afternoon  Mr.  Burgess  asked   Dick 


J 14  TIP  CAT. 

if  he  would*  like  to  have  his  salary  paid  weekly  or 
quarterly.  Dick  had  been  wondering  how  this  would 
be  all  the  week  ;  he  had  a  little  money  in  hand  for 
present  use,  but  he  had  told  Mrs.  Tysoe  that  he 
would  like  to  settle  the  bill  weekly,  and  though  she 
said  it  did  not  signify  and  it  was  all  the  same  to  her, 
he  thought  she  would  prefer  it.  But  this  was  only 
to  be  done  by  receiving  the  salary  weekly,  and  it 
went  so  very  much  against  the  grain  to  do  this  that 
when  Mr.  Burgess  asked  the  question,  Dick  answered, 
"  Thank  you,  sir,  quarterly  if  you  please,"  and  then 
grew  very  red  and  hot  and  made  several  mistakes  in 
the  writing  he  was  doing  from  dictation,  and  at  last 
burst  out,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  but  if  it's  ajl  the 
same  to  you,  I  should  prefer  having  my  money  weekly." 

"  Whichever  you  please,  whichever  you  please  ; 
it  makes  no  difference  to  me.  I  will  tell  Mr.  Lupton 
to  let  you  have  it  weekly." 

Dick  had  been  hoping  that  Mr.  Burgess  himself 
would  make  the  payments,  as  Mr.  Lupton  took  every 
opportunity  of  being  disagreeable  to  him,  and  now 
took  pains  to  let  him  know  that  his  predecessor,  Mr. 
Fred,  had  received  his  money  quarterly  like  a  gentle- 
man, as  he,  Mr.  Lupton,  himself  did  ;  and  Dick 
went  home  fingering  the  coins  in  his  waistcoat 


WEEKL  Y  BILLS.  1 1 5 

pocket  and  feeling  hot  and  humiliated,  as  if  he  had 
sunk  to  the  level  of  the  laboring  men  who  passed 
him,  slouching  along  with  their  wallets  on  their 
shoulders,  carrying  their  week's  earnings  to  the  missus 
and  turning  in  at  the  Swan  to  drink  the  first  two- 
gence  out  of  it.  "  After  all,"  he  said  to  himself, 
"  there's  no  shame  in  being  poor.  It's  the  first 
money  I've  earned,  anyhow,  and,  by  Jove  !  I  think 
I've  worked  for  it  honestly." 

"  You'll  let  me  have  your  bill,  Mrs.  Tysoe,"  he  said 
that  night,  "  on  Monday  morning  ?  I  should  like  to 
pay  regularly  every  week." 

"  I'll  just  get  Joe  to  make  it  out  then,"  she  an- 
swered, "  he  always  balances  his  books  a  Saturday 
night,  and  I've  got  it  all  down  on  the  slate.  Shall  I 
put  in  the  washing  along  with  the  rest  ?  " 

"  Yes  please  ;  and  that  reminds  me,  Mrs.  Tysoe, 
do  you  think  you  can  find  a  better  laundress  ?  I 
can't  wear  the  shirts  she  has  sent  home.  I  don't 
know  what  on  earth  she's  been  doing  to  the  fronts, 
and  as  for  the  collars,  they're  so  limp  that  I  put  on 
half-a-dozen  this  morning  before  I  found  one  I  could 
wear.  I  don't  know  how  she's  done  the  children's 
things,  but  perhaps  she's  more  used  to  that  sort  of 
thing  than  shirts." 


Ii6  TIP  CAT. 

"Well,"  Mrs.  Tysoe  said,  "she's  a  respectable, 
honest  body  as  ever  lived,  is  Eliza  Dawes,  and  a 
widder  woman  and  a  long  family  and  attends  our 
chapel  reg'lar.  A  Christian  woman  ;  but,  in  course, 
if  she  don't  give  satisfaction  we  must  try  Mrs.  Jones 
as  washes  for  Dr.  Lee,  and  were  laundry-maid  for 
years  at  the  Grange.  She  ain't  a  woman  as  I  likes, 
but  she've  done  a  deal  of  washing  for  gentle-folks, 
and  knows  how  to  charge  I've  heard  tell." 

"  We  musn't  be  extravagant,  Mrs.  Tysoe,"  said 
Dick,  "but  it's  no  economy  to  pay  very  little  for 
washing  shirts  if  you  can't  wear  them  when  they're 
done.  If  Mr.  Tysoe  has  time  to  make  out  the  ac- 
count this  evening  will  you  let  me  have  it  ?  I  shall 
not  be  going  to  bed  just  yet." 

An  hour  later  Mrs.  Tysoe  tapped  at  the  door  and 
brought  in  the  bill,  startling  Dick,  who  had  the  coins, 
given  him  that  afternoon  by  Mr.  Lupton,  spread  be- 
fore him  on  the  table.  He  was  looking  at  them  with 
a  sort  of  curiosity  and  wonder  as  to  whether  this 
money,  earned  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  could  be  of 
the  same  metal  and  stamp  as  the  coin  of  which  he 
had  made  so  light  in  old  days,  it  looked  so  different 
to  the  sovereigns  and  half-sovereigns  that  had  slipped 


WEEKL  Y  BILLS.  117 

K 

through  his  fingers  so  quickly  and  easily  at  Oxford 
and  in  London. 

"  I  don't  think  you'll  have  to  complain,"  Mrs* 
Tysoe  said  as  she  laid  the  folded  paper  down  on  the 
table.  "  I've  kep'  all  the  items  down,  and  I've  al- 
ways been  counted  a  goodish  manager." 

"  I'm  sure  I  shall  not,"  said  Dick  cheerfully ; 
"  you've  made  us  awfully  comfortable,  and  we  can't 
have  been  extravagant." 

When  Mrs.  Tysoe  had  gone  away,  Dick  opened 
the  bill  and  looked  at  the  total,  and  then  ran  his 
fingers  quickly  through  his  hair  and  caught  up  his 
pen  and  added  up  -the  column  and  then  examined 
the  items.  Yes,  they  were  all  of  them  correct,  and 
none  of  them,  as  far  as  he  could  tell,  overcharged. 
He  could  remember  that  neck  of  mutton  and  that 
steak,  and  the  apples,  sugar,  potatoes,  milk,  and  all 
the  rest  of  it,  and  the  addition  was  all  right,  and  the 
total  a  month  ago  he  would  have  thought  wonderfully 
moderate  for  a.  whole  week's  living  for  himself,  let 
alone  the  little  girls  ;  but  it  was  more  than  his  week's 
salary  would  pay,  more  than  was  comfortable  to  an 
income  of  8o/.  a  year. 

He  could  pay  it,  for,  as  I  have  said,  he  had  a 
little  money  in  hand  from  the  sale  of  his  Oxford  be- 


il8  TIP  CAT. 

longings ;  but  he  had  put  that  by  as  a  sort  of  reserve, 
only  to  be  drawn  on  in  times  of  need,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, added  to  with  a  view  to  schooling  for  the  child- 
ren ;  and  the  worst  of  it  was  he  did  not  see  how  the 
expenses  were  to  be  lessened  another  week.  He 
had  been  inclined  to  complain  once  or  twice  during 
the  week  on  the  subject  of  the  plainness  and  want  of 
variety  in  the  fare — more  for  the  children's  sake  than 
his  own — and  he  'could  not  think  what  things  they 
could  possibly  do  without,  so  as  to  bring  the  figure 
down  to  that  i/.  IQJ.  that  he  had  been  admiring  as 
his  first  earnings. 

Anyhow,  one  thing  was  clear,  that  he  could  not 
afford  to  be  fastidious  over  his  shirts  and  collars, 
and  it  was  quite  a  relief  to  him  to  get  up  and  go 
into  his  bedroom  and  carefully  pick  out  the  collars 
he  had  rejected  so  scornfully  that  morning,  and 
flatten  out  their  limp  edges  and  put  them  back  in  his 
drawer,  to  be  worn  when  he  had  come  to  an  end  of 
his  better-washed  linen. 

Then  he  went  back  to  that  fruitless  adding  up  in 
the  hope  of  reducing  the  amount ;  but  it  was  no 
good,  and  at  last  he  fetched  his  poor  little  reserve 
store  and  made  up  the  required  sum,  and,  hear- 
ing the  Tysoes  still  about,  he  went  down,  feeling 


WEEKL  Y  BILLS.  1 1 9 


that  he  should  sleep  better  if  the  matter  were  off  his 
mind. 

The  Tysoes  were  having  a  late  bit  of  supper  with 
some  toasted  cheese,  which  made  the  little  parlor 
smell  like  a  mouse-trap,  when  Dick  opened  the  door, 
and  Mr.  Tysoe,  with  many  apologies  for  taking  such 
a  liberty,  invited  Dick  to  sit  down  and  take  a  bit, 
"  as  is  a  first-rate  toaster  and  done  to  a  turn." 

But  the  bill  had  taken  all  Dick's  appetite  away, 
so  he  declined  with  thanks,  and  said  he  was  sorry  to 
disturb  them,  and  put  the  bill  and  the  little  pile  of 
money  on  the  table  by  the  mustard-poL 

"  I  have  rather  a  head-ache,"  he  said,  "  to-night  ; 
and  that  reminds  me,  Mrs.  Tysoe,  I  think  I  should 
be  better  without  any  beer  at  dinner  and  supper, 
and  I  don't  care  for  anything  but  bread  and  butter 
for  my  breakfast." 

"  Perhaps  you're  a  bit  bilious,''  said  Mrs.  Tysoe  ; 
"  and  some  folks  as  is  that  way  inclined  can't  take 
not  even  a  egg  with  their  breakfast  were  it  ever  so  ; 
but  I'll  get  you  a  nice  bloater  for  a  change,  and  if 
you  finds  the  beer  sits  too  heavy,  I'd  try  just  a  leetle 
drop  of  brandy  and  water,  and  I've  some  pills  as  I've 
always  kep'  by  me"  as  saved  my  poor  'usban'  times 
out  of  mind  from  yeller  jaundice;  and  it's  my  firm 


120  TIP  CAT. 

conviction  if  he'd    atook  'em  in  his  last  illness,  he 
might  abeen  here  to  this  very  day." 

But  Dick  thought  the  bill  had  been  enough  of  a 
pill  for  one  day,  and  that  it  must  be  a  very  patent 
medicine  to  cure  a  pain  in  the  pocket ;  so  he  de- 
clined Mrs.  Tysoe's  course  of  treatment,  and  left 
them  to  finish  their  toasted  cheese  in  peace. 


TIPTON  FARM.  \  2 1 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TIPTON  FARM. 

IT  was  a  beautiful  Spring  that  year,  and  though 
the  country  round  Slowmill  is  not  particularly  pretty 
or  picturesque,  it  is  a  rare  country  for  wild  flowers, 
and,  to  Sybil  and  Letty  who  had  always  been  in  Lon- 
don at  that  time  of  the  year,  it  was  like  fairyland  as 
they  followed  the  bright  footsteps  of  the  Spring 
through  violets  and  primroses,  and  soft  springing 
grass  and  dainty  opening  leaves  and  grey  velvet  willow 
buds,  and  thrushes'  nests  with  warm,  blue  eggs,  and 
young  lambs  frisking  on  thick,  young  legs,  and 
fragile,  pure  anemones,  and  bluebells  as  blue  as  the 
sky  above,  where  the  larks  were  singing,  and  dewy 
cowslips,  and  the  cuckoo's  cheerful  notes,  till  the 
meadows  burst  into  a  blaze  of  golden  buttercups  to 
welcome  King  Summer. 

The  little  girls  were  quite  happy.  When  Mr. 
Tysoe  was  going  out,  he  always  took  them  in  his 
cart  and  set  them  down  at  some  wood,  or  meadow, 


122  TIP  CAT. 

or  lane  where  there  were  flowers  or  nests  or  lambs, 
and  picked  them  up  on  his  return,  and  brought  them 
home.  On  the  days  when  he  was  not  driving,  Mrs. 
Tysoe  used  at  first  to  take  them  out,  but  this  the 
children  found  dull,  as  she  preferred  to  keep  to  the 
pavements  where  she  was  likely  to  meet  friends  and 
acquaintances,  and  she  walked  very  slowly,  and  a 
walk  into  the  country  did  not  at  all  fit  in  with  her 
ideas  of  enjoyment ;  so,  on  one  occasion,  when  Mrs. 
Tysoe  was  indulging  in  a  long  gossip  with  a  neigh- 
bor, and  the  little  girls  had  grown  tired  of  the  only 
shop  window  within  reach,  which  was  an  undertaker's, 
they  took  the  law  into  their  own  hands  and  walked 
off  independently  .along  the  road  past  the  church, 
and  made  their  way  triumphantly  to  the  very  wood 
where  they  had  gone  the  first  Sunday  with  Dick,  and 
where  they  had  first  met  Tip  Cat ;  and  here,  as  good 
fortune  would  have  it,  they  met  Tip  Cat  again,  and 
he  took  them  on  to  his  house,  Tipton  Farm,  and 
regaled  them  with  biscuits  and  milk,  and  showed 
them  the  young  ducks  and  the  calves  and  a  family  of 
pink-eyed,  crafty  ferrets  ;  and  they  passed  altogether 
a  most  delightful  afternoon,  while  poor  Mrs.  Tysoe 
was  tearing  about  Slowmill,  quite  distracted  at  not 
being  able  to  find  them. 


TIP  TON  FARM.  123 


She  was  just  on  her  way  to  Mr.  Burgess's  to  break 
the  alarming  news  to  Dick,  and  to  ask  if  the  duck-pond 
by  the  churchyard  had  better  be  dragged,  or  the  town 
crier  sent  out  to  proclaim  their  loss,  when  the  two 
culprits  appeared,  having  been  conducted  back  as 
far  as  the  town  by  Corporal  Ridge,  having  received 
a  cordial  invitation  from  Tip  Cat  to  come  to  Tipton 
Farm  as  often  as  they  pleased,  and  having  made  up 
their  minds  to  avail  themselves  of  the  invitation  very 
often. 

They  were  very  sorry  when  they  found  how 
frightened  and  anxious  Mrs.  Tysoe  had  been,  and 
still  more  when  Dick  was  told  of  what  they  had  done, 
and  was  vexed  and  worried  about  it. 

"  I  thought  I  could  trust  you,  Letty,"  he  said, 
"  and  that  I  need  not  feel  uneasy  when  I  am  at  the 
office — and  now  I  shall  always  be  thinking  you  are 
wandering  about  the  country  by  yourselves,  and  that 
you  may  get  lost  or  run  over.  And  poor  Mrs.  Tysoe 
is  quite  ill  with  running  about  to  find  you." 

The  two  little  girls  were  crying,  you  may  be  sure, 
long  before  Dick  came  to  the  end  of  his  very  mild 
scolding,  and  'were  on  his  knees,  and  clinging  round 
his  neck  sobbing  in  deepest  contrition. 

"  Oh,  Dick,  we're  so  sorry,  we'll  never  do  such  a 


124  TIP  CAT. 

naughty  thing  again  if  you'll  only  trust  us ;  and  we 
went  very  steady,  indeed  we  did,  Dick,  and  when  we 
heard  a  cart  coming  we  climbed  down  quite  into  the 
ditch,  not  to  be  run  over,  and  I  took  hold  of  Sybil's 
hand,  and  we  walked  quite  slow  and  didn't  run  at  all 
— but  we  won't  never  do  it  again,  dear  Dick,  we 
won't  if  you'll  only  forgive  us  this  once." 

Poor  Dick,  it  was  himself  he  could  not  forgive,  that 
he  was  not  able  to  take  better  care  of  his  little  sisters, 
could  not  keep  them  in  the  position  to  which  they 
were  born,  could  not  even  keep  down  the  weekly 
bills  within  the  limits  of  his  income.  Those  weekly 
bills  were  a  perfect  nightmare  to  poor  Dick,  and 
Saturday  night,  a  time  to  be  dreaded  all  through  the 
week.  Do  what  he  would,  the  amount  to  be  paid 
was  always  a  little  over  what  he  received,  and  every 
week  he  had  to  draw  from  the  small  store  which 
dwindled  very  rapidly  under  those  weekly  calls. 

He  could  not  blame  Mrs.  Tysoe  in  any  way,  her 
charges  were  certainly  moderate  and  she  was  scrupu- 
lously honest,  and  there  was  nothing  approaching  ex- 
travagance that  could  be  curtailed.  Every  week  he 
hoped  that  the  next  bill  might  be  less,  but  it  always 
turned  out  that  if  they  had  saved  in  one  item  they 
had  spent  more  in  proportion  on  another.  He  could 


TIP  TON  FARM.  125 


not  bear  to  stint  or  deny  the  children  in  the  least, 
and  he  felt  miserable  if  they  did  not  eat  as  much  as 
usual,  or  did  not  seem  to  like  what  was  provided  for' 
them. 

As  for  himself,  he  was  so  young  and  strong  and 
hearty,  that  even  his  unusually  sedentary  life  and  his 
nervous  anxiety  to  make  two  ends  meet,  could  not 
spoil  his  appetite,  and  he  made  such  ravages  on  the 
bread  and  butter  as  made  him  look  very  ruefully  at 
the  loaf  and  pat  when  tea  time  was  over. 

Do  what  he  would,  he  could  not  impress  on  Mrs. 
Tysoe  how  desperately  poor  they  were ;  when  he 
said  how  necessary  it  was  for  them  to  be  careful  over 
every  penny  they  spent,  he  always  said  it  with  a  smile, 
and  she  fancied  it  was  half  a  joke  ;  and  the  bill  was 
paid  so  regularly  every  Saturday  night  and  no  ob- 
jection made  to  any  of  the  charges,  and  when  he  left 
off  this  or  that  little  luxury  it  was  always  on  the  plea 
that  he  would  be  better  without  it,  and  he  was  such 
a  gentleman,  and  so  unsuspicious  and  generous  !  She 
had  had  many  lodgers  far  better  off  than  Dick  who 
had  carped  over  and  criticised  every  item  in  the  bill 
and  had  locked  up  every  available  article  of  food  in 
the  cheffonier — as  is  the  way  of  certain  wise  people, 
who  do  not  seem  to  consider  that  if  a  lodging-house 


126  TIP  CAT. 

keeper  is  dishonest  it  is  very  easy  to  have  two  keys 
to  any  cupboard  door  in  the  house. 

So  though  Mrs.  Tysoe  managed  her  best  for  Dick 
and  the  little  girls,  she  did  not  realize  how  poor  they 
were,  which  made  it  all  the  harder  for  him  in  his  at- 
tempts to  economise. 

Letty  and  Sybil  went  down  that  evening  with  very 
tearful  eyes  to  beg  Mrs.  Tysoe's  pardon,  and  finding 
her  quite  recovered  from  her  agitation  and  temporary 
displeasure,  and  engaged  in  filling  up  the  glass 
bottles  of  sweets  for  the  shop  window,  the  peace 
was  very  soon  made,  and  they  remained  to  help  her 
in  her  congenial  occupation,  while  Dick  upstairs 
was  fretting  over  that  most  fruitful  source  of  worry 
— -ways  and  means. 

When  Dick  came  in  to  dinner  next  day,  he  found 
a  letter  begun  in  large  print,  and  Letty's  fingers  very 
inky.  She  was,  as  Aunt  Maria  had  said,  very  back- 
ward, and  this  was  the  first  letter  she  had  ever  at- 
tempted. 

"  dear  tip  cat,"  it  ran,  "  sibel  and  me  is  not  com- 
ing," and  there  a  large  blot  seemed  to  have  dis- 
couraged the  attempt. 

"  I  told  him,  you  know,"  Letty  said,  "  that  we'd 
come  and  see  him  very  often,  for  he  gave  us  each  a 


TIP  TON  FARM.  127 


little  yellow  duck,  and  they're  too  small  to  leave  their 
mother,  so  I  thought  I  ought  to  write  and  tell  him  we 
couldn't  ever  come  again  unless  you  or  Mr.  Tysoe 
could  take  us,  and  we  should  like  the  ducks  called 
Punch  and  Judy,  and  we  don't  want  them  to  go  into 
the  water  till  we  come.  Oh,  Dick,  I  wish  I  could 
write.  Ellen  and  Grace  could  write,  with  nice  little 
curly  tails  to  their  g's,  and  dots  to  their  i's." 

"  I  wish  you  could,  Letty.  I'll  teach  you  of  an  even- 
ing," said  the  poor  young  fellow,  with  another  sharp 
sting  of  remorse  for  all  his  short-comings  ;  "  and,  if 
you  like,  I'll  write  to  Tip  Cat  for  you  when  I  come 
home  this  evening." 

But  there  was  no  need  to  write,  for  that  afternoon, 
when  Letty  and  Sybil  were  out  with  Mr.  Tysoe  in  the 
cart,  they  met  Tip  Cat,  so  they  were  able  to  explain 
the  difficulties. 

"  Dick  says  we  ain't  to  come  by  ourselves,  and 
Mrs.  Tysoe  can't  walk  so  far  because  she's  got  corns, 
and  they're  dreadful  painful.  Dick  says  he  don't 
mind  bringing  us  sometimes  on  Sunday  afternoon, 
though  he  can't  think  why  we  want  to  come,  though 
we  told  him  about  the  ducks,  and  he  says  he's  quite 
sure  you'd  rather  we  kept  away.  Would  you,  really, 
Tip  Cat  ? " 


128  TIP  CAT. 

"  He  needn't  trouble  himself  to  come  on  Sunday 
afternoons,"  was  the  gruff  answer,  "  or  any  other 
afternoon  for  the  matter  of  that ;  and  if  he'll  take 
the  trouble  to  ask  any  one  about  here,  they'll  tell 
him  I'm  not  in  the  habit  of  asking  people  who  I'd 
rather  kept  away." 

"  But  we  can't  come  if  he  doesn't,"  said  Sybil. 

"Yes  you  can,  if  you  want  to.  The  corporal 
comes  into  town  every  day  to  fetch  my  paper  about 
two,  and  I'll  tell  him  to  call  in  and  see  if  you  want 
an  escort,  and  we'll  see  you  safe  home  when  you've 
had  enough  of  it." 

So  the  very  next  day,  when  Dick  was  coming  out 
after  dinner,  taking  the  short  cut  through  the  shop 
as  he  was  rather  late,  there  he  found  Corporal  Ridge 
standing  very  stiff  and  upright,  with  his  heels  to- 
gether, and  he  gave  a  military  salute  and  told  Dick 
that  the  captain  had  sent  him  for  the  young  ladies. 

But  Dick  received  no  more  invitations  to  Tipton 
Farm,  and  saw  nothing  of  Tip  Cat,  though  the  chil- 
dren often  went  there  twice  or  three  times  a  week. 
Now  and  then  when  they  were  late  home,  for,  as  the 
evenings  grew  longer,  Dick  sometimes  reached  home 
before  them,  he  would  walk  out  on  the  road  to  Tip- 
ton  Grange  to  meet  them,  and  then  he  would  catch 


TIPTON  FARM.  129 


a  glimpse  of  the  tall  figure  of  the  old  man  walking 
between  the  little  girls  with  his  head  bent  down, 
listening  to  their  chatter  as  they  held  his  hands,  or 
clung  to  his  arm  or  his  shabby  velveteen  coat  but, 
when  Dick  came  in  sight,  and  it  was  wonderful  how 
far  away  Letty  and  Sybil  could  see  him,  Tip  Cat 
would  say  good-by,  and,  turn  back,  while  Kaiser  would 
follow  the  children  till  they  were  safe  with  Dick,  as 
if  he  felt  his  responsibility  was  not  over  till  they 
were  in  Dick's  hands,  and  then  would  go  bounding 
off  after  his  master. 

"  Tip  Cat  likes  us  both  very  much,"  Sybil  would 
say  ;  "  but  he  likes  Letty  the  best,  because  she  is  like 
some  one  he  knew  ever  so  long  ago,  whose  name  was 
Letty  too.  But  the  corporal  likes  me  the  best,  so 
that  makes  us  equal." 


130  TIP  CAT. 


,    CHAPTER  XII. 

WAYS    AND    MEANS. 

WITH  what  different  eyes  people  look  at  things 
at  different  times  ! — or  do  the  things  themselves 
change  and  alter  and  take  other  shapes  and  lines  ? 
Three  months  before,  Dick  had  looked  round  the 
little  sitting-room  at  Mr.,  Tysoe's  with  disgust  and 
discontent,  as  being  insufferably  small,  and  mean, 
and  vulgar,  and  he  had  pitied  the  little  girls,  infi- 
nitely more  than  they  needed  his  pity,  for  being 
reduced  to  this  as  their  home  ;  and  he  had  only  re- 
conciled himself  to  it  with  the  idea  that  it  was  only 
for  a  time,  and  that,  by  and  by,  when  he  saw  where 
he  was,  he  would  find  other  quarters  more  suited  to 
their  position. 

But  now,  as  he  looked  round  the  room  one  Satur- 
day night  in  June,  ft  looked  to  him  quite  pretty  and 
home-like  and  pleasant.  It  was  a  very  hot  night 
and  the  window  was  wide  open,  and  a  great,  white 


WA  YS  AND  MEANS.  131 

moon  was  looking  calmly  down  on  Slowmill,  where 
perfect  quiet  reigned  in  the  streets,  and  where,  one 
by  one,  the  lights  were  being  extinguished  in  the  bed- 
room windows,  for  it  was  nearly  twelve  o'clock. 

There  was  not  a  breath  of  air  stirring  to  move 
the  window  curtains  or  make  Dick's  candle  flicker. 
Letty  and  Sybil  had  been  in  bed  for  hours,  and  he 
had  been  into  their  room  and  seen  them  asleep,  with 
Letty's  arm  stretched  across  Sybil  in  a  protecting 
fashion.  He  had  heard  the  Tysoes  go  up  to  bed — 
Mrs.  Tysoe  very  heavy-footed,  with  a  grunt  on  each 
step,  and  Joe  brisk  and  active  even  after  a  long  and 
hot  day's  work. 

Dick  had  been  sitting  for  a  long  time  with  his 
elbows  on  the  table  and  his  hands  supporting  his 
head,  and  with  a  paper  spread  on  the  table  in  front 
of  him,  before  he  raised  his  head  and  took  a  survey 
of  the  room  round  him,  partly  in  candle-light,  partly 
in  moonlight.  There  was  hardly  any  alteration  in 
the  room  ;  it  was  just  the  same  as  it  was  three 
months  ago,  when  it  had  so  disgusted  him,  except 
that  perhaps  it  was  a  little  less  stiff  and  more  untidy ; 
a  great  straggling  bunch  of  honeysuckle  in  a  large  jar 
had  usurped  the  place  of  the  wax  water-lily  in  the 
window.  Letty's  hat  lay  on  one  of  the  chairs,  and 


132  TIP  CAT. 

a  row  of  paper  dolls  adorned  the  sofa,  and  two  long, 
lustrous  peacock's  feathers  were  stuck  in  the  frame 
of  the  looking-glass  and  drooped  gracefully  acror 
the  little  mirror.  Otherwise  it  was  just  the  same^ 
and  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Tysoe  ogled  him  with  the 
very  wooden  grin  which  had  made  him  so  angry  at 
first,  that  he  had  stuck  a  patch  of  sticking-plaster 
over  those  senseless  eyes,  to  prevent  them  following 
him  about,  but  to-night  she  seemed  friendly  and  sym- 
pathetic as  he  looked  up  at  her. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  the  paper  over  which  Dick 
sat  so  long  that  night  was  the  weekly  bill,  and  when 
I  add  that  the  first  item  was,  "  Balance  from  last 
account,"  it  will  explain  the  desperate  look  in  poor 
Dick's  eyes  as  he  looked  up  at  the  cold,  composed 
moon  riding  in  the  clear,  indigo  darkness  above. 
That  little  reserve  fund  of  Dick's  had  been  exhausted 
some  weeks  ago,  and  since  then  he  had  been  obliged 
to  pay  Mrs.  Tysoe  only  so  much  on  account,  and  ask 
her  to  carry  forward  the  balance  to  next  week's  bill. 
It  was  only  a  little,  to  be  sure,  and  Mrs.  Tysoe  was 
quite  willing  to  do  so,  and  even  proposed  to  leave 
the  whole  amount  to  another  time  ;  but  each  week 
the  balance  grew  a  little  more,  and  this  present  week 
one  or  two  little  extra  expenses  for  boot-mending  and 


WAYS  AND  MEANS.  133 

such  like  necessary  outlay  had  raised  the  sum  so 
alarmingly,  that  Dick  felt  that  the  matter  must  be 
looked  in  the  face  and  grappled  with  boldly. 

There  was  no  escaping  the  truth,  that  they  could 
not  afford  to  live  in  their  present  style,  and  that  al- 
ready the  serpent  debt  was  beginning  to  wind  its  coils 
round  him.  They  must  leave  Mrs.  Tysoe's,  that 
was  very  plain,  and  try  and  find  humbler  lodgings  ; 
but  it  was  the  little  girls  who  would  suffer  most  from 
this,  for  they  would  lose  Mrs.  Tysoe's  kindly  care, 
and  have  to  shift  and  manage  for  themselves. 

Had  he  any  right  to  sacrifice  his  little  sisters  in 
this  way  ?  he  asked  himself.  What  was  his  duty  to 
them  ?  His  whole  soul  had  risen  in  revolt  at  the 
idea  of  the  rough  school  to  which  Aunt  Maria  had 
proposed  to  send  them,  but,  after  all,  would  not 
that  have  been  better  than  what  he  could  provide 
for  them  ?  He  had  a  right  to  his  own  pride,  and  to 
suffer  for  it  if  needs  must ;  but  had  he  a  right  to 
pride  for  them,  and  let  them  suffer  for  it  ?  Was  it 
not  his  duty  to  write  to  Uncle  Tom  and  confess  that 
he  was  not  man  enough  to  keep  his  little  sisters, 
and  that,  after  all,  he  must  accept  his  charity 
for  them  ?  Oh  !  what  a  fool  he  had  been  not  to  do 
it  at  first  when  he  could  have  made  better  terms  for 


134  TIP  CAT. 

them,  and  been  at  hand  to  watch  over  them,  instead 
of  coming  as  a  suppliant  to  beg  and  entreat  for  the 
very  thing  he  had  flung  back  indignantly  in  their 
faces  not  four  months  ago.  And  what  would  his  life 
at  Slowmill  be  worth  without  them,  when  they  were 
handed  over  to  Aunt  Maria's  cold  charity,  and  he 
was  alone,  with  no  little  figures  waiting  at  the  corner  of 
the  street  when  office  hours  were  over,  no  arms  to 
cling  round  his  neck,  and  coax  and  pet  him  when  he 
was  tired  and  dull,  no  tappings  at  his  bedroom  door 
in  the  morning,  and  entrance  of  little  half-clad 
creatures  wanting  help  in  the  matter  of  a  button  or 
a  tape  when  Mrs.  Tysoe  was  busy  ?  He  must  not 
think  of  that,  but  only  of  them,  what  would  be  best 
and  happiest.  For  that  matter  they  could  not  be 
better  and  happier  than  they  are  now.  He  went  in 
to  have  another  look,  and  held  the  candle  shaded 
with  his  hand,  lest  the  light  should  wake  them.  They 
had  never  looked  so  well.  Letty's  cheeks  had  a 
sweet  rose  flush  on  them,  and  Sybil's  young  arms 
tossed  above  her  head  were  round  and  dimpled. 
Happy  too  !  They  were  as  happy  as  the  day  was 
long ;  he  had  not  seen  a  tear  except  on  that  one  oc- 
casion, when  they  had  left  Mrs.  Tysoe  in  the  lurch, 
and  gone  off  alone  to  Tip  Cat's. 


WA  YS  AND  MEANS.  135 

If  there  had  only  been  the  slightest  prospect  of  im- 
provment  in  his  income  he  would  have  tried  to  struggle 
on  for  the  present,  but  he  was  painfully  conscious  that 
Mr.  Lupton  regarded  him  with  great  dissatisfaction, 
and,  not  knowing  the  cause,  he  set  it  down  to  his 
own  stupidity  and  shortcomings ;  and  Mr.  Burgess 
had  a  grumbling  tone  about  everything  which  poor 
Dick  thought  was  only  called  forth  by  himself,  and 
felt  that,  far  from  there  being  any  probability  of 
a  rise  in  his  salary,  he  might  at  any  time  lose  his 
situation  altogether. 

Once  he  thought  he  would  write  to  Mr.  Murchison, 
and  once  he  even  thought  of  poor  old  Jenkins  and 
his  offered  loan,  and  then,  with  a  desperate  effort, 
he  seized  a  pen  and  began  "  Dear  Uncle  Tom." 

But  just  then  the  candle  flickered  in  its  socket 
and  went  out,  and  the  soft-toned  bell  from  the  church 
struck  two,  echoing  through  the  quiet  town,  bathed 
in  silver  moonlight ;  and  Dick,  with  a  strange  feeling, 
as  if  the  bell  had  sounded  a  reprieve,  threw  down 
the  pen  and  closed  the  window  and  went  off  to  bed 
in  the  dark. 

I  have  heard  of  people  who  have  found  direct  help 
and  guidance  in  great  perplexity  by  opening  the 
Bible  at  haphazard  and  reading  the  text  they  open 


136  TIP  CAT. 

at ;  and  to  some  the  help  comes  through  the  words 
of  a  passing  stranger  or  the  thoughtless  chatter  of  a 
baby  ;  and  there  is  a  poem  describing  how  a  child 
singing  as  it  went  along  the  street  unconsciously  af- 
fected the  lives  and  actions  of  those  who  heard  it. 
So  it  was  that  some  words  of  Sybil's  threw  a  light  on 
Dick's  uncertainty. 

It  was  next  morning  when  he  was  tying  her  neck- 
tie to  go  to  church  that  she  said,  "  How  nice  it  would 
be  if  we  could  live  in  a  cottage  Quite  out  in  the 
country  all  the  summer,  Dick  !  " 

Why  not  ?  There  was  all  the  summer  before 
them,  and  if  they  could  find  a  clean  cottage  among 
the  fields  the  children  would  be  able  to  live  out 
of  doors  in  fine  weather.  He  had  only  thought,  in 
leaving  Mrs.  Tysoe's  of  taking  smaller,  cheaper  lodg- 
ings in  the  town,  and  these  would  certainly  be  stuffy 
and  cramped,  but  a  country  cottage  was  different ;  and 
Dick  turned  the  subject  over  and  over  in  his  mind,  and 
in  the  afternoon  set  off  with  the  little  girls  to  a  cottage 
about  a  mile  from  Slowmill  which  they  had  passed 
once  or  twice  in  their  walks,  and  which  occurred  to 
his  mind  as  a  likely  place. 

You  had  to  cross  a  meadow  to  get  to  it,  and  there 
was  a  good  bit  of  garden  round  it,  and  a  rough  piece 


WAYS  AND  MEANS.  137 

of  covert  behind  which  would  make  a  capital  play- 
ground for  the  children. 

Letty  and  Sybil  knew  all  about  the  people  who 
lived  there,  for  they  had  been  there  several  times 
with  Mr.  Tysoe ;  but  they  did  not  understand  Dick's 
sudden  interest  in  old  Ricketts,  who  worked  at  the 
flour  mill  close  to  Mr.  Burgess's,  and  in  his  rheumatic, 
old  wife,  for  Dick  would  not  tell  them  his  intentions, 
in  case  they  should  come  to  nothing,  and  he  should  be 
obliged  to  send  the  children  back  to  London  and  Aunt 
Maria. 

The  old  man  was  standing  leaning  over  the  gate 
into  the  road,  smoking  his  pipe  as  they  came  up, 
and  he  was  quite  willing  to  enter  into  conversation. 
"  It's  a  quiet  place,  sure  enough,  and  there  ain't 
many  folk  pass  along  in  the  day ;  but  me  and  my 
missis  is  quiet  folk,  so  it  suits  well  enough,  and  we've 
a  lived  here  these  thirty  years,  so  we're  about  used 
to  it.  It's  a  good,  big  cottage — most  too  big  for  me 
and  my  missis  now  the  young  uns  is  all  away  ;  and 
times  we've  talked  of  moving,  but  the  rent  ain't  more 
nor  a  smaller  one  'ud  be,  and  we've  a  nice  bit  of 
garden,  so  we  wouldn't  better  ourselves.  Lodgers  ? 
Well,  we've  took  mowers  nows  and  thens,  but  they're 
mostly  a  rough  lot,  and  the  missis  don't  like  their 


138  TIP  CAT. 

noise  and  drinking  ways — as  is  a  good-living  woman 
though  I  says  it." 

The  children  had  wandered  off  picking  honey- 
suckle in  the  hedges,  so  Dick  accepted  the  old  man's 
invitation  to  come  in  and  see  the  missis.  It  was  the 
plainest,  little  cottage  kitchen,  where  the  old  woman 
sat  in  the  chimney  corner,  poking  bits  of  stick  into  the 
fire  with  her  rheumatic  hands,  to  try  and  rouse  a 
blaze  under  the  big  black  kettle  to  make  it  boil  for 
tea.  There  was  a  dresser  with  a  poor  array  of  plates 
and  cups,  and  a  patchwork  curtain  across  the  mantle- 
piece,  on  which  were  ranged  dim  photographs  on 
glass  and  funeral  cards  in  cheap  frames.  You  might 
see  the  same  in  dozens  of  cottages,  but  Dick  noticed 
that  it  possessed  a  virtue  not  always  to  be  found,  and 
that  was  cleanliness.  The  old  man  opened  a  door 
at  the  side  and  showed  him  with  pride  a  little  best 
parlor,  with  a  round  table  in  the  middle,  with  six 
straight-backed  wooden  chairs  standing  round  it,  and 
a  dusky  little  looking-glass  over  the  chimney-piece. 

It  was  not  very  spacious,  to  be  sure,  but  Dick  was 
not  disposed  to  be  critical,  if  he  could  only  avoid 
having  to  write  to  Uncle  Tom,  and  send  the  little 
girls  away  from  him.  But  when  he  opened  the  sub- 
ject with  old  Ricketts  and  his  wife,  he  met  with  a  de- 


WAYS  AND  MEANS.  139 

cided  refusal,  when  at  last  they  understood  what  he 
meant,  for  they  could  not  imagine  that  a  gentleman 
like  Dick  could  possibly  want  to  come  and  live  in  a 
cottage  like  that. 

"  It's  no  place  for  gentlefolks,"  they  kept  saying^ 
"  and  the  missis  is  that  rheumatic  as  she  couldn't 
wait  on  you  as  you'll  be  used  to." 

But  Dick  persisted,  in  spite  of  their  shaking 
heads  and  discouraging  answers,  and  made  it  all 
appear  so  easy'and  comfortable  that,  after  a  time, 
the  old  couple  agreed  to  think  it  over  and  not  decide 
in  a  hurry. 

The  bedrooms  up  stairs  had  uneven  floors  and 
sloping  ceilings,  and  did  not  boast  much,  furniture, 
but  they  had  the  all-redeeming  quality  of  cleanliness  ; 
and  Mrs.  Ricketts,  opening  an  old  worm-eaten  chest, 
showed  a  store  of  linen,  sweet  with  lavender,  of  which 
the  mistress  of  many  a  better  house  might  have  been 
proud ;  and  though  there  were  no  curtains  to  the 
beds,  nor  carpets  on  the  floors,  Dick  thought  the  bed- 
rooms might  compare  favorably  with  Mrs.  Tysoe's 
which  were  apt  to  get  stuffy  and  oppressive. 

He  was  so  very  anxious  to  think  it  suitable,  that 
he  made  the  very  best  of  everything,  and  when  the 
old  man  rather  doubtfully  suggested  two  shillings  and 


140  TIP  CAT. 

sixpence  a  week  as  a  rent  that  might,  perhaps,  be 
thought  too  exorbitant,  Dick  could  have  declared  the 
cottage  the  most  elegant  and  luxurious  accommodation 
to  be  imagined  ;  and  the  little  girls,  coming  in  just 
then  with  their  hands  full  of  honeysuckle  and  wild 
roses,  were  quite  surprised  at  Dick's  restored  cheer- 
fulness, and  at  the  friendly  way  in  which  he  parted 
from  the  old  couple,  who,  on  their  part,  looked  dazed 
and  confused,  and  a  little  bit  resentful,  as  if  they 
were  being  bustled  along  faster  than  they  liked  or 
were  accustomed  to  in  the  quiet  jog-trot  pace  of  their 
everyday  life. 


VISIT  TO  BRISTOL.  141 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A    VISIT    TO    BRISTOL. 

"  WOULD  it  be  convenient,  sir,  to  spare  me  for  a 
few  hours  this  afternoon  ?  " 

"  Eh  ?  what,  what  ?  "  Mr.  Burgess  looked  sharply 
up  at  the  young  man.  He  happened  to  use  the  very 
same  words  that  Fred  Burgess  always  employed  to 
signify  to  his  uncle  that  he  should  not  come  back  to 
the  office  after  lunch,  and  this  form  of  words  had 
grown  so  familiar  to  the  old  man  by  constant  repeti- 
tion, that  it  quite  startled  him  to  hear  them  in  the 
mouth  of  his  new  clerk,  who  had  worked  on  steadily 
now  for  four  months  without  a  request  for  even  half 
an  hour's  holiday.  But  now  it  was  beginning,  the 
old  man  told  himself,  the  broom  was  losing  its  new- 
ness, and  there  would  soon  be  an  end  to  punctuality 
and  attention  to  business.  He  had  been  too  good- 
natured  in  allowing  it  with  Fred,  and  see  what  it  had 


142  TIP.  CAT. 

led  to  !     So  he  would  not  let  this  youngster  off  so 
easily. 

"  Would  it  be  convenient,  sir,  to  spare  me  for  a 
few  hours  this  afternoon  ?  " 

"  What  for  ?  important  business,  eh  ?  " 

Dick  flushed  up  to  the  roots  of  his  hair. 

"  I  want  to  go  to  Bristol,  sir." 

"  Oh  indeed !  that  was  what  my  delightful  nephew 
always  used  to  say,  but  he  generally  added  on  impor- 
tant business,  which  I  usually  ascertained,  if  I  cared 
to  inquire,  was  to  have  his  hair  cut.  Do  you  want 
your  hair  cut  ? " 

"  No,  sir.  If  it  is  not  convenient,  I  can  go  another 
day." 

Mr.  Burgess  felt  a  little  bit  ashamed  of  his  bully- 
ing manner,  as  Dick  quietly  took  up  his  pen  again 
and  prepared  to  resume  his  writing,  and,  being  kind- 
hearted  he  would  have  been  sorry  if  he  could  have 
seen  how  heart-sick  the  young  fellow  was,  and  how 
this  trifling  opposition  seemed  to  fret  him  beyond 
endurance. 

This  visit  to  Bristol  and  its  object  was  utterly  re- 
pugnant to  him,  and  he  had  nerved  himself  up  to  it 
only  by  the  constant  remembrance  of  the  debt  he 
owed  the  Tysoes  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  get- 


A   VISIT  TO  BRISTOL.  143 

ting  free  of  it,  cost  what  it  might,  and  of  starting 
clear  in  the  future. 

The  night  before  he  had  turned  out  his  little  store 
of  valuables  and  had  selected  any  that  he  thought  had 
any  market  value.  A  ring  or  two,  some  shirt-studs 
and  a  scarf-pin  that  had  belonged  to  his  father. 
There  was  a  miniature  of  his  fair,  young  mother, 
wonderfully  like  Letty,  who  seemed  to  be  looking  up 
at  brother  Dick  from  the  circle  of  pearls  with  which 
the  portrait  was  surrounded,  just  as  she  looked  up  at 
him  morning  and  night  when  he  took  her  face  be- 
tween his  hands  to  kiss  it.  The  pearls  and  gold 
mounting  must  be  worth  something,  but  it  went  to 
Dick's  heart  to  rob  the  portrait  of  its  fair  setting, 
and  it  seemed  almost  like  sacrilege,  as  if  he  were  de- 
spoiling the  dead.  Poor,  sweet,  young  mother  that 
he  had  hardly  known  !  His  eyes  were  dim  as  he 
pressed  the  miniature  softly  against  his  cheek  and 
whispered,  "  It  is  for  your  little  girls,  mother,  your 
little  Letty  and  Sybil." 

Then  there  was  his  watch  which  his  grandfather 
had  given  him  the  last  year  he  was  at  school.  What 
a  beauty  it  was  !  He  had  hardly  even  yet  entirely 
got  over  the  pride  of  bringing  it  out  before  strangers. 
He  had  never  seen  one  he  liked  half  as  well.  He 


144  TIP  CAT. 

remembered  the  extreme  delight  it  gave  him  when 
he  first  went  back  to  school  with  it,  and  how  con- 
stantly it  was  necessary  to  refer  to  it,  and  how  the 
first  class  boys  came,  for  a  joke,  one  after  another  to 
ask  him  what  time  it  was,  much  to  his  satisfaction, 
till  that  great  duffer  Mabson  burst  out  laughing,  and 
he  saw  it  was  all  done  for  a  lark,  and  how  he  was 
ready  to  fight  any  one  who  cast  a  doubt  on  its  perfect 
veracity,  and  stoutly  maintained  that  the  church  clock 
must  be  slow  because  the  time  did  not  agree  with  his. 

He  found  himself  smiling  over  these  recollections 
of  his  schoolboy  days,  which  seemed  now  such  ages 
ago ;  but  the  smile  only  made  the  pain  deeper  when 
he  thought  of  parting  with  his  watch. 

And  then  the  notion  of  going  to  a  pawnbroker's  ! 
He  had  often  passed  the  door  of  such  a  place  and 
seen  poor,  drunken,  desperate  creatures  pass  in,  with 
a  furtive,  shame-faced  look  round,  to  pledge  their 
children's  clothes  for  more  gin,  and  had  imagined 
the  greasy  counter  and  the  frowsy,  close  smell  and 
the  dirty  Jewish  face,  whose  sharp  eyes  know  in  a 
second  the  value  of  the  article  offered,  and  whose 
heart  must  be  long  dead  to  all  pity  and  respect  for 
human  nature. 

There  was  no  pawnbroker's  that  he  knew  of  in 


A   VISIT  TO  BRISTOL.  145 

Slowmill,  and,  if  there  had  been,  he  knew  well  enough 
how  many  curious  eyes  would  have  watched  him  in, 
and  how  many  trumpet-tongues  would  have  pro- 
claimed his  business  on  the  housetops,  but  in  Bristol 
he  would  be  lost  in  the  crowd,  and  could  do  what  he 
pleased  without  any  one  being  the  wiser. 

The  opposition  from  Mr.  Burgess  was  an  unex- 
pected difficulty,  and,  as  he  wrote  from  the  old  man's 
dictation,  he  was  trying  to  decide  whether  he  would 
go  in  spite  of  it,  and  risk  the  chance  of  losing  his 
situation,  or  if  he  would  go  by  the  late  train  and  get 
back  to  Slowmill  as  best  he  could. 

But  when  one  o'clock  came  and  Mr.  Burgess  rose 
to  go  to  his  lunch,  he  said,  "  You  had  better  tell  Mr. 
Lupton  that  you  are  not  coming  back  to-day,  and  I 
hope  business  will  not  often  call  you  away  on  Mon- 
day afternoons  just  when  we  are  so  busy." 

"  Thank  you,  sir  ;  indeed  it  shall  not  occur 
again." 

"  Till  next  time,"  said  the  old  man  to  himself,  as 
he  closed  the  door  and  went  away  to  his  solitary 
luncheon,  while  Dick  had  to  endure  a  volley  of 
grumbling  from  old  Lupton,  from  whose  irritation  it 
would  seem  as  if  this  particular  Monday  were  the 
busiest  day  of  all  the  year  at  Burgess's  office. 


146  TIPCAT. 

But  Dick  cut  it  as  short  as  he  could  with  civility, 
and  ran  off,  for  there  was  not  a  moment  to  lose  if  he 
meant  to  catch  the  train,  for  the  omnibus  was  far  too 
expensive  a  luxury  to  be  thought  of,  and  he  would 
have  to  walk  three  miles  to  the  station.  So  he  only 
ran  in  and  told  the  little  girls  that  he  should  not  be 
home  till  quite  late,  and  they  were  to  have  tea,  and 
go  to  bed  without  him,  and  he  took  a  bit  of  bread  in 
his  pocket  to  eat  on  the  way,  and  the  little  packet  of 
valuables  he  had  looked  out  the  evening  before,  and 
went  off,  the  children  calling  after  him  to  bring  them 
back  some  chocolates. 

"  You  know,"  Sybil  explained  to  Mrs.  Tysoe,  "  he 
always  used  to  bring  us  back  chocolates  when  he 
went  anywhere  ;  really  nice,  don't  you  know,  not  like 
what  you  have  in  the  shop,  but  a  different  sort  of 
taste,  not  so  much  like  soot.  I'll  give  you  one  when 
he  comes  back,  and  I'm -sure  you'll  like  it." 

Dick  was  just  in  time  for  the  train,  and  reached 
Bristol  without  any  adventure  except  that,  at  one 
station,  a  face  well  known  to  him  at  Oxford  passed 
the  carriage,  with  all  the  old  fuss  and  circumstance 
that  used  to  attend  Dick  himself  in  his  prosperous 
days  when  he  travelled.  The  obsequious  porters 
carrying  portmanteau,  hat-box,  coat,  and  umbrella, 


A    VISIT  TO  BRISTOL.  147 

the  scent  of  a  good  cigar,  the  couple  of  dogs  whose 
comfort  seemed  of  more  importance  than  that  of 
all  the  rest  of  the  passengers  put  together  ;  it  had 
all  been  second  nature  to  Dick  in  old  days,  and  he 
drew  back  now  in  the  corner  of  the  carriage  in  deadly 
fear  of  being  recognized,  as  if  it  were  likely  that 
young  Prosperous  should  be  travelling  third  class 
or  look  for  friends  in  that  quarter. 

When  he  reached  Bristol  it  was  not  difficult  to  find 
what  he  was  seeking  for  ;  the  three  dingy,  smoke- 
grimed  golden  balls  soon  caught  his  eye,  but  he  did 
not  go  into  the  first  pawnbroker's  that  offered,  but 
went  straying  on,  passing  one  because  it  looked  too 
smart,  and  another  because  it  looked  too  low,  and 
aimlessly  looking  into  many  of  the  shop  windows, 
hardly  noticing  what  his  eyes  were  resting  on,  so  full 
was  he  of  the  painful  memories  that  the  sight  of  El- 
liott of  Balliol  had  called  up  in  him. 

So  he  stood  for  full  ten  minutes  before  a  toyshop, 
with  vacant  eyes  fixed  on  waxen-faced  beauties  and 
elaborate  toys,  and  for  all  he  knew  it  might  just  as 
well  have  been  the  little  undertaker's  at  Slowmill,  of 
which  Letty  and  Sybil  had  grown  so  tired  while  they 
were  waiting  for  Mrs.  Tysoe. 

It  was  a  great  pity  that  he  was  not  more  conscious 


148  TIP  CAT. 

of  the  things  before  him,  for  Letty  and  Sybil,  who 
had  not  had  the  chance  of  a  good  look  into  a  toy- 
shop or  a  bazaar  since  they  left  London,  would  much 
have  enjoyed  a  detailed  account  of  all  the  toys  in 
the  window,  and  on  another  occasion  Dick  would 
have  remembered  this,  and  laid  up  a  store  of  interest- 
ing information  to  carry  to  his  little  sisters. 

More  than  one  of  the  passers-by  looked  curiously 
at  the  young  man,  standing  apparently  lost  in  serious 
contemplation  of  those  simpering  dolls  in  the  window, 
and  his  face  seemed  quite  to  disturb  a  customer 
within  the  shop,  who  after  peering  at  him  inquisitive- 
ly between  the  Noah's  Arks  and  doll's  houses  which 
filled  the  back  of  the  window,  opened  the  door  and 
took  a  closer  survey  of  him,  unnoticed  by  Dick. 

This  customer  was  quite  as  remarkable  as  he 
seemed  to  find  Dick,  indeed,  there  seemed  something 
more  curious  in  a  great,  gaunt,  old  man  with  grey 
moustaches  and  deep  lines  of  thought  and  care  about 
his  face,  spending  nearly  an  hour  in  minute  inspec- 
tion of  wax  dolls  in  a  shop,  than  in  a  young  man 
standing  a  few  minutes  outside  the  window. 

This  customer  had  declined  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  smiling  young  women  behind  the  counter, 
who  generally  found  themselves  very  acceptable, 


A   VISIT  TO  BRISTOL.  149 

especially  to  gentlemen  customers ;  and  he  had 
demanded  the  presence  of  the  master  of  the  shop, 
who  was  not  nearly  so  used  to  attending  to  purchasers, 
and  had  frequently  to  appeal  as  to  prices  and  varieties 
to  the  giggling  young  shop-women,  who  were  much 
amused  at  the  business-like  and  minute  review  and 
comparison  of  nearly  every  doll  in  the  shop  which 
this  strange  old  man  went  through  before  he  selected 
two  dolls  which  satisfied  his  requirements. 

He  then  proceeded  to  give  orders  for  the  dressing 
of  these  two  dolls,  still  giving  his  instructions  to  the 
master  of  the  shop,  who,  being  young  and  unmarried, 
was  much  confused  at  the  scarcely  repressed  laughter 
of  the  two  girls,  who  were  entirely  ignored  by  the 
old  man,  and  who  listened  with  intense  amusement 
to  the  blundering  and  unscientific*  language  in  which 
these  two  ignorant  men-folk  discussed  the  clothing 
of  the  dolls. 

The  arrangements  were  nearly  concluded  when 
Dick's  face  appeared  at  the  window,  and  when  Tip 
Cat,  for  he  it  was,  came  out  into  the  street,  the  young 
man  was  just  turning  listlessly  away.  The  two 
men  met  face  to  face,  but  Dick's  thoughts  were  too 
far  away  just  then  from  Slowmill  to  recognise  any 
one  from  there,  even  indeed,  if  he  would  have  known 


15°  TIP  CAT. 

Tip  Cat  again,  having  only  seen  him  once,  and  that 
four  months  ago. 

Those  strange  light  eyes  of  Tip  Cat  were  very 
observant  and  the  dull,  dejected  look  in  Dick's  face 
struck  him  at  a  glance,  and  without  any  intention  of 
spying  on  him,  or  interfering  with  him  in  any  way, 
he  turned  when  he  had  gone  a  few  steps  and  followed 
him,  keeping  him  in  sight  through  several  streets, 
along  which  he  noticed  that  Dick  went  in  an  object- 
less way,  stopping  now  and  then  at  a  shop  window, 
and  then  wandering  on  again.  Was  he  ill  ?  Had  he 
been  drinking  ?  But  just  as  this  doubt  entered  his 
head,  Tip  Cat  saw  Dick  quicken  his  step  and  rouse 
up  and  pull  himself  together,  and  give  a  look  up  at 
the  smoky  sky  overhead,  and  the  next  minute  he 
had  turned  into  a  shop  at  the  corner  of  the  street. 

What  shop  was  it  ?  Tip  Cat  wondered,  but  as  he 
came  nearer  recognised  it  by  the  three  golden  balls 
over  the  door.  "  What  does  this  mean  ?  "  said  the 
old  man  to  himself,  as  he  turned  away.  "  Nothing 
good  !  Poor  little  Letty  !  " 


NOTICE  TO  LEAVE.  151 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

NOTICE     TO     LEAVE. 

WHEN  Dick  got  back  to  Slowmill  late  that  night, 
he  found  Mrs.  Tysoe  sitting  up  for  him  with  her 
nightcap  on,  and  rather  a  martyr-like  aspect,  and  she 
looked  very  narrowly  at  Dick  as  he  came  in,  having 
a  general  idea  that  coming  in  after  twelve  was  usually 
accompanied  by  unsteady  gait  and  indistinct  utter- 
ance, and  a  tendency  to  set  the  house  on  fire,  and  it 
was  on  this  ground  that  she  had  declined  Joe's  offer 
to  sit  up  and  let  her  go  to  bed,  as  she  could  not  have 
slept  a  wink  with  the  fear  of  being  burnt  alive  in  her 
bed. 

But  Dick  only  looked  very  tired  and  worn  out,  and 
he  was  so  penitent  for  having  kept  her  up,  that  her 
resolution  to  speak  a  few  motherly  words  to  the 
young  man  on  the  error  of  his  ways  was  quite  for- 


152  TIP   CAT. 

gotten,  and  she  was  only  anxious  to  get  him  a  little 
supper,  as  he  was  obliged  to  confess,  on  being  ques- 
tioned, that  he  had  had  nothing  to  eat  since  that  bit 
of  bread  he  had  taken  from  the  dinner-table  in  the 
middle  of  the  day. 

To  save  trouble  she  spread  the  supper  in  the  back 
parlour,  and  Dick,  when  he  came  down  to  it,  brought 
down  the  bill  and  the  little  pile  of  money  to  pay  it. 

"  Bless  my  heart !  you  needn't  have  troubled,"  Mrs. 
Tysoe  said,  "  at  this  time  of  night  too.  I  thought 
you'd  alet  it  bide  till  next  week,  so  when  you  didn't 
settle  it  Saturday  night,  I  thought  'twould  just  be" 
carried  forward  to  next  account." 

"  It  won't  do  for  me  to  get  into  debt,  Mrs.  Tysoe  ; 
it's  as  much  as  I  can  do  to  pay  a  week's  bill,  so  I'm 
sure  I  couldn't  a  fortnight's." 

Mrs.  Tysoe  laughed ;  she  always  laughed  at  any 
reference  to  Dick's  great  poverty,  as  if  it  were  an 
amusing  fiction  he  liked  to  keep  up,  in  which  it  was 
necessary  to  humor  him.  But  she  did  not  laugh  at 
Dick's  next  remark,  but  sat  in  stony  silence,  only 
the  quivering  of  the  frills  of  her  nightcap  revealing 
the  agitation  of  her  feelings. 

"  I  want  to  thank  you,"  Dick  said,  "  for  all  your 
kindness  to  me  and  the  little  girls,  and  to  tell  you 


NOTICE  TO  LEAVE.  153 

that,  much  to  my  regret,  I  must  give  you  notice  to 
leave  at  the  end  of  the  week.  Saturday  is  the  right 
day  for  giving  notice,  I  know,  so  we  shall  not  leave 
till  Saturday,  week  ;  but  I  thought  I  had  better  tell 
you  as  soon  as  my  plans  were  settled." 

"  Then  you're  going  back  to  London,  and  have 
come  back  into  all  your  property  ?  There  !  if  I 
didn't  always  say  you  would.  It  was  only  this  very 
blessed  day  as  I  was  saying  to  Mrs.  Jones  as  no  one 
couldn't  look  at  you  and  think  as  you'd  be  long  at 
Burgess's,  as  'twere  for  all  the  world  like  putting  a 
silk  patch  on  a  cotton  gown.  Dear !  dear  !  dear  !  and 
all  you've  asaid  about  being  so  poor,  when  I  warrant 
you  knowed  all  along  how  it  would  all  come  right. 
And  those  pretty  little  dears,  so  contented  and  happy, 
and  as  pleased  to  ride  with  Joe  in  his  cart  as  if  he'd 
been  a  coach  and  six  !  " 

Mrs.  Tysoe  was  getting  quite  tearful  and  hysterical, 
and  her  words  came  so  rapidly  that  Dick  could  not 
edge  in  a  word  for  some  minutes  to  enlighten  her  as 
to  the  very  different  cause  of  their  leaving. 

"  But  I'm  not  going  back  to  London,  Mrs.  Tysoe, 
and  I  never  shall  come  into  any  property  ;  and  I 
think  Mr.  Lupton  would  tell  you  I'm  a  very  poor 
patch  indeed  at  Mr.  Burgess's,  and  I  may  think  my- 


154  TIP  CAT. 

self  lucky  if  I  don't  get  the  sack.  No  ;  the  truth  of 
it  is,  we  can't  afford  to  stop  here,  and  I  must  try  and 
find  cheaper  rooms. — No,  you  must  not  offer  to  lower 
the  rent,  for  you  do  not  ask  a  penny  too  much  ;  only 
you  must  find  lodgers  better  off  than  we  are  and  who 
won't  give  you  so  much  trouble." 

There  was  a  strange  convulsion  of  feeling  to  be 
read  in  Mrs.  Tysoe's  face  just  then,  if  Dick  had  not 
been  too  weary  and  down-hearted  to  read  it.  One 
moment  she  was  inclined  to  bridle  up  and  take  of- 
fence, and  talk  of  not  giving  satisfaction  ;  the  next 
to  dissolve  into  tears  and  beg  them  to  stop  at  any 
terms,  as  she  was  "  as  fond  of  them  two  children  as 
her  own  flesh  and  blood."  One  moment  the  darkest 
suspicions  of  Dick  crossed  her  mind,  and  the  next 
the  most  pitiful,  motherly  feeling  for  him  and  the 
little  girls.  Now  she  thought  only  of  the  dulness  she 
should  feel  without  Letty  and  Sybil,  and  now,  of  the 
brother  of  the  dissenting  minister,  who  wanted  apart- 
ments, and  who  was  a  quiet  Christian  man  and  a 
traveller  for  the  wholesale  oil  and  colourman  with 
whom  Joe  dealt,  so  that  he  was  likely  to  be  a  very 
advantageous  lodger. 

"  And  may  I  ask,"  she  said,  at  last,  stiffly,  "  where 
you'll  find  cheaper  rooms,  where  you'll  get  as  well 


NOTICE  TO  LEAVE.  155 

done  by  as  you've  done  here  ?  though  I  say  it  as 
shouldn't." 

"  Nowhere,  and  I  don't  expect  it.  You've  spoilt 
us,  Mrs.  Tysoe,  and  I  don't  know  how  Letty  and 
Sybil  will  get  on  without  you." 

His  voice  was  a  little  husky  as  he  spoke,  and  Mrs. 
Tysoe's  heart  softened  at  the  sound. 

"  Poor  little  dears  !  "  she  went  on,  "  they're  not 
of  the  sort  to  rough  it.  Miss  Letty  ain't  strong,  the 
leastest  thing  upsets  her,  and  Miss  Sybil  have  a 
nasty  wheezing  at  her  chest  if  she  ketches  a  bit  of  a 
cold,  as  wants  seeing  to  keerful  if  you  wants  to  rear 
her.  You  say  as  your  ma  did'nt  die  in  consumption, 
but  you  marks  my  words  as  some  of  your  folks  did 
some  time  or  other,  and  it's  sure  and  certain  to  come 
out  in  them  little  sisters  of  yours  if  they're  not  well 
looked  to." 

Poor  Dick  did  not  find  these  gloomy  forebodings 
very  reassuring,  but  he  tried  to  take  a  cheerful  view 
of  the  matter.  "  At  any  rate  they  are  both  very  well 
now." 

Mrs.  Tysoe  shook  her  head  ominously,  and  sighed. 
"  There's  nowhere  in  Slowmill  as  I  can  think  of  as 
is' fit  for  you.  There's  Mrs.  Jolly's,  but  she's  a  deal 
too  fond  of  a  glass,  and  them's  not  the  sort  to  have 


156  TIP  CAT. 

the  care  of  children  ;  and  Mrs.  Laws  is  that  dirty,  as 
I  couldn't  eat  a  mossel  in  her  house  were  it  ever  so. 
But  there  !  perhaps  you've  found  what  you  want,  and 
don't  need  any  advice  from  me." 

"  Indeed  I  do,  Mrs.  Tysoe.  If  you  don't  stand 
our  friend,  I  don't  know  who  will."  And  then  Dick 
unfolded  his  plan  of  the  Ricketts's  cottage. 

Mrs.  Tysoe  was,  as  I  have  said,  no  great  walker, 
so,  though  she  had  lived  all  her  life  in  Slowmill,  and 
that  life  had  extended  to  sixty-five  years,  she  knew 
very  little  of  the  neighborhood,  and  Dick  was  rather 
relieved  to  find  that  she  did  not  quite  know  which 
was  the  Ricketts's  cottage,  and  that  his  description, 
quite  unintentionally,  conveyed  to  her  mind  an  idea 
very  superior  to  the  humble  reality. 

She  had  seen  old  Ricketts  ;  he  had  dealt  with 
them  for  years,  which  was  greatly  in  his  favor,  and 
she  had  heard  tell  that  his  Missus  was  a  decent,  clean 
sort  of  a  body. 

"  But  she  ain't  never  been  used  to  gentlefolks' 
ways  ;  and  who's  to  look  after  the  children's  hair, 
I'd  like  to  know,  and  brush  it  and  do  it  out  as  have 
took  me  sometimes  half  an  hour  between  the 
two  ? " 

Dick  shook  his  head  wearily.      He  knew  better 


NOTICE  TO  LEAVE.  157 

even  than  Mrs.  Tysoe  did,  of  how  little  hairdressing 
or  anything  else,  Mrs.  Rickett's  rheumatic  hands 
were  capable. 

"  We  must  make  the  best  of  it,"  he  said,  "  and  I 
must  do  lady's-maid  now  and  then.  We  can  but  try 
it  for  a  week  or  two,  and  see  how  we  get  on.  But 
I  must  not  keep  you  up  any  longer,  or  you  will  be 
only  too  glad  to  get  rid  of  us." 

"  Well,  it  must  be  getting  late,"  said  Mrs.  Tysoe  : 
"  but  Joe  he've  taken  the  clock  up  to  his  room,  as 
his  watch  have  stopped,  so  I  don't  rightly  know  the 
time." 

Dick's  hand  went  involuntarily  to  his  waistcoat 
pocket. 

"  Bless  and  save  us  !  Where's  your  watch  ?  "  asked 
Mrs.  Tysoe,  as  his  hand  fell  and  his  face  changed 
color. 

"  I  left  it  in  Bristol,"  stammered  Dick,  "  to — to 
— be  mended."  Poor  Dick,  it  was  the  first  time  he 
had  missed  the  watch,  and  with  that  first  impulse  of 
a  wounded  creature  to  hide  its  hurt,  he  had  told  a 
falsehood  about  it — and  such  a  poor  little  pitiful  un- 
truth that  deceived  no  one,  for  Mrs.  Tysoe  stood 
looking  at  him  with  consternation  and  horror. 

"  Why,  you've  never  been  and — " 


158  TIPCAT. 

"  Good-night,"  he  said,  irritably.  "  I'm  tired  to 
death,  and  so  I  expect  are  you  ;  "  and  he  left  her, 
looking  after  him  and  murmuring,  "  He's  been  and 
—  Who'd  'a'thought  ?  Poor  lad  !  poor  lad  !  He 
might  a'told  me  first,  and  I'll  warrant  as  he  didn't 
get  half  as  he  ought  for  it  !  And  'twere  such  a 
beauty !  And  'twould,  a'been  nice  for  Joe.  Dear ! 
dear !  'tis  a  terrible  pity !  " 

Neither  Mrs.  Tysoe  nor  Dick  slept  much  that 
night,  and  Dick  looked  so  dilapidated  when  he 
turned  up  at  the  office  that  Mr.  Burgess  was  corn- 
firmed  in  his  opinion,  that  the  day  before  had  been 
the  first  step  in  a  course  of  dissipation  ;  and,  as  he 
passed  through  the  outer  office,  Mr.  Macintosh  pre- 
tended to  take  a  long  draught  from  a  roll  of  paper 
on  his  desk,  and  then  pointed  over  his  shoulder  to 
Dick's  retiring  figure,  and  winked  at  the  office  boy, 
who  went  into  an  irrepressible  burst  of  merriment  at 
this  refined  and  elegant  joke. 

The  morning's  work  had  never  seemed  so  long 
and  tiresome  to  Dick  before,  or  Mr.  Burgess  so  fidg- 
ety and  exacting  ;  and  when  he  came  home  to  din- 
ner, he  found  Letty  and  Sybil  sitting  up  with  very 
serious  faces  and  red  eyes,  and  following  him  about 
with  anxious,  deprecating  little  looks  that  in  his  pres- 


NOTICE  TO  LEAVE.  159 

ent  nervous,  irritable  condition,  made  him,  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life,  almost  cross  to  them. 

But  the  culminating  point  was  reached,  when  both 
the  children  refused  to  take  a  second  helping,  and  he 
caught  Letty  making  signs  to  Sybil  not  to  take  a 
second  piece  of  bread  and  giving  her  part  of  hers 
instead. 

This  was  more  than  he  could  bear,  and  getting  up 
suddenly,  leaving  his  dinner  unfinished,  he  went  out, 
telling  them  to  go  on  without  him,  as  he  wanted  to 
walk  before  he  went  back  to  the  office. 

He  could  not  be  angry  with  the  little  girls,  but  he 
could  not  endure  it.  It  was  plain  that  Mrs.  Tysoe 
had  been  talking  to  them.  What  talkers  women  are  ! 
What  an  idiot  he  had  been  not  to  tell  her  to  hold 
her  tongue !  The  only  comfort  he  had  had  was  that 
the  children  were  happy  and  light-hearted,  and  well. 
He  had  meant  to  make  the  new  move  appear  a  pleas- 
ant change  to  them,  like  going  out  of  town  in  the 
summer,  and  to  treat  it  all  like  a  picnic  and  a  piece 
of  fun. 

He  had  taken  the  way  towards  Tipton  Grange, 
and  as  he  passed  the  stile  leading  to  the  farm,  he 
did  not,  notice  that  Tip  Cat  was  standing  near  it, 
who,  however,  saw  the  young  man  pass  and  came  to 


160  TIP  CAT. 

much  the  same  conclusion  as  Mr.  Burgess  and  his 
clerks  had  done,  from  the  look  of  his  white,  troubled 
face  and  heavy,  anxious  eyes. 

He  also  saw  a  little  figure  that  was  timidly  follow- 
ing Dick  at  a  distance,  making  a  run  now  and  then 
to  keep  him  in  sight,  and  giving  such  a  piteous,  little 
out-of-breath  sob  as  she  passed  the  stile,  that  Tip 
Cat  made  a  stride  forward,  as  if  he  would  have 
caught  the  little  thing  up  or  punished  that  brute  of 
a  brother  who  went  walking  on,  leaving  the  little, 
white-faced,  delicate  sister  to  hurry  after  him  in  all 
the  heat  and  dust  of  that  Midsummer  day. 

Kaiser,  too,  was  indignant  at  the  sight,  and  instead 
of  restraining  himself,  as  his  master  had  done  after 
the  first  impulsive  stride,  he  leapt  the  stile  and 
reached  Letty  almost  at  one  bound,  whining  and 
licking  her  tearful  little  face,  and  circling  round  her 
and,  taking  a  corner  of  her  pinafore  in  his  white 
teeth,  pulled  it  gently  as  if  to  remind  her  that  the 
right  way  to  Tipton  Farm  was  over  the  stile. 

But  Letty  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  her  pursuit 
of  Dick  and  she  tried  to  push  Kaiser  away,  but 
Kaiser  had  not  been  a  sheep-dog  for  nothing,  and  he 
thought  he  knew  his  duty  too  well  to  let  this  little 
stray  lamb  wander  any  further  out  of  the  way  and 


NOTICE  TO  LEAVE.  161 

he  kept  firm  hold  of  her  pinafore  till  Dick  had  disap- 
peared round  the  corner  of  the  road,  and  was  quite 
ouc  of  sight. 

And  then  Letty  broke  down  altogether,  and  burst 
into  such  a  torrent  of  sobs,  that  Kaiser,  utterly  be- 
wildered, let  go  of  her,  and  turned  up  his  head  and 
howled  out  of  very  sympathy.  It  was  the  very  best 
thing  he  could  have  done  to  make  up  for  the  mistake 
he  had  made,  for  the  sound  reached  Dick's  ears,  and 
the  next  moment  he  re-appeared  at  the  turn  of  the 
road,  and  to  his  great  surprise  saw  Letty,  whom  he 
imagined  at  home  with  Sybil,  apparently  struggling 
with  a  big,  savage-looking  dog. 

It  did  not  take  half  a  minute  for  Dick  to  reach 
the  scene  of  action  and  snatch  Letty  up  in  his  arms 
and  give  Kaiser  a  most  undeserved  whack  with  his 
stick,  which  that  animal  might  have  been  inclined 
to  resent,  if  an  imperative  whistle  from  the  other 
side  of  the  hedge  had  not  called  him  off  at  that  very 
minute. 

But  Dick  and  Letty  sat  on  the  green  bank  by  the 
roadside  under  the  elm  trees  and  comforted  one 
another,  for  Dick  wanted  comfort  every  bit  as  much 
at  his  Jittle,  sobbing,  trembling  sister,  and  nothing 
seemed  to  soothe  him  so  much  as  her  arms  clinging 


1 62  TIP  CAT. 

round  his   neck  and  her  damp   cheek   pressed  to 
his. 

They  neither  of  them  noticed  the  Grange  carriage 
and  its  sleek,  grey  horses  passing  by,  nor  Mrs.  Viv- 

* 

ian's  curious  scrutiny  through  her  gold  eye-glasses. 
.  "  Who  are  they,  Kathie,  ?  "  she  said  to  the  girl  at 
her  side.  "I  don't  seem  to  know  their  faces. 
What  a  pretty  child  ?  " 

"I  didn't  see  them,  Auntie,  but  I  daresay  they 
belong  to  one  of  the  cottages  in  the  lane." 

Dick  was  late  at  the  office  that  afternoon,  he  had 
no  watch  to  tell  him  the  time  now,  and  besides  it 
took  some  time  to  quiet  Letty's  convulsive  sobs,  and 
soothe  her  troubled  little  heart  into  composure  and 
take  her  back  to  Mrs.  Tysoe's  ;  and  Mr.  Lupton 
gave  a  little  sneer  about  punctuality  when  he  came 
in,  and  Mr.  Burgess  was  snappish,  and  out  of  temper 
but  Dick  did  not  feel  nearly  as  bad  as  he  had  done  in 
the  morning,  or  as  if  he  would  like  to  knock  his  head 
against  the  dingy  office  wall  and  have  done  with  it  all. 

"  And,  Sybil,  "  Letty  said,  between  the  turns  of 
the  coffee-grinder,  that  afternoon,  "  I've  promised 
Dick  ever  so  faithful  that  we'll  always  eat  as  much 
as  we  possibly  can,  and  take  two  helpings  at  dinner, 
for  he  bcvys  if  we  don't  it  will  just  break  his  heart." 


THE  FLITTING.  163 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  FLITTING. 

DICK  was  very  glad  when  that  last  week  at  Mrs. 
Tysoe's  was  over.  Mrs  Tysoe  was  kindness  itself, 
but  kindness  with  tearful  eyes  and  gloomy  forebod- 
ings, and  rather  a  resentful  manner,  as  if  Dick's 
poverty  were  somehow  a  personal  affront  to  herself. 

It  was  quite  a  relief  to  Dick  when  he  heard  that 
negotiations  with  the  Christian  commercial  traveller 
were  going  on  favorably,  and  that  the  Tysoes'  lodg- 
ings would  not  be  vacant  for  more  than  a  couple  of 
days  after  he  left,  but  even  this  desirable  arrange- 
ment could  not  be  mentioned  without  a  sigh,  and 
nothing  could  induce  Mrs.  Tysoe  to  take  a  cheerful 
view  of  anything,  though  Dick  and  the  little  girls, 
after  that  first  despondency,  found  a  good  deal  that 
was  pleasant  in  the  prospect. 

Dick  had  not  only  to  endure  a  good  deal  from  his 
old  landlady  but  also  from  his  new  one,  who  was  at 


164  TIP  CAT. 

ways  starting  some  fresh  panic  and  insuperable 
difficulty,  which  required  sometimes  hours  of  the 
most  vigorous  and  hopeful  persuasion  from  Dick  to 
counteract. 

"  She's  a  pore  sperritted  crittur."  her  husband  would 
say,  waylaying  Dick  as  he  came  out  of  the  office  at 
dinner-time  to  convey  some  alarming  piece  of  in- 
telligence. "  She  ain't  slept  a  wink  all  night  ;  and 
she  woke  me  at  two,  and  she  says,  says  she,  '  There 
ain't  a  warming-pan  in  the  place,  and  most  like 
they're  all  a'  used  to  it  every  night  of  their  lives,'  says 
she." 

As  this  difficulty  was  suggested  under  a  blazing 
sun,  with  every  probability  of  sunstroke,  and  Ricketts 
constantly  applying  his  red-cotton  handkerchief  to  a 
very  moist  forehead,  a  warming-pan  did  not  seem  a 
very  immediate  necessity. 

Another  time  it  was  a  more  important  difficulty. 
The  four- post  bed  allotted  to  Letty  and  Sybil  had, 
for  some  reason  best  known  to  itself,  sat  down  like 
a  cat  during  the  night,  and  the  old  woman  was  in 
despair  at  the  idea  of  what  might  have  been  the 
result  if  the  children  had  been  in  bed  at  the  time. 
But  Dick  and  Ricketts  together  restored  the  bed- 
stead to  its  original  position  and  prevented  any 


THE  FLITTING.  165 

chance  of  its  repeating  its  eccentric  behavior,  and 
when  once  Dick  had  taken  to  a  hammer  and  nails,  he 
developed  quite  a  talent  for  carpentering,  and  put  up 
a  rail  for  the  children's  towels  and  some  pegs  for  their 
frocks  to  hang  on  at  an  easier  distance  from  the 
ground  than  those  at  Mrs.  Tysoe's,  and  a  shelf  or  two 
in  a  recess. 

The  only  thing  he  found  it  necessary  to  supply  was 
a  bath  for  the  children,  as  he  unearthed  a  big,  wooden 
tub  from  an  outhouse  that  would  do  nicely  for  him. 
He  undertook  to  fill  the  baths  himself  every  even- 
ing, for  there  was  no  pump,  but  only  an  open  well, 
out  of  which  water  was  drawn  in  a  bucket  by  means 
of  a  long  pole,  and  Mrs.  Ricketts  looked  rather 
aghast  at  these  preparations  for  much  washing,  which 
her  new  lodgers  seemed  to  consider  quite  as  necessary 
a  part  of  life  as  eating  and  sleeping. 

Dick  spent  most  of  his  evenings  over  at  the  cottage 
that  week,  and  generally  Letty  and  Sybil  went  with 
him,  assisting,  with  much  bustling,  in  the  arrange- 
ments. At  any  rate  they  could  not  starve,  as  Dick 
provided  that  a  plentiful  supply  of  milk  should 
be  sent  every  morning  from  the  nearest  farm,  and 
home-made  bread  and  butter  from  the  same  source, 
and  the  rest  of  the  food  Dick  could  bring  with  him 


1 66  TIP  CAT. 

every  day  from  the  town,  or  Mr.  Tysoe  would  supply 
on  his  weekly  call. 

The  thing  that  most  preyed  on  Dick's  mind  was 
the  children's  toilets.  He  had  gained  a  little  ex- 
perience since  they  came  to  Slowmill,  but  he  very 
much  doubted  his  capability  when  there  was  no  longer 
Mrs.  Tysoe  to  appeal  to  in  an  emergency,  and  when 
one  evening  he  made  an  experiment  in  doing  Sybil's 
hair,  such  screams  followed  the  first  application  of  a 
comb  to  the  bright  curly  tangle,  that  he  gave  it  up 
in  despair,  and  wondered  if  Mrs.  Tysoe  would  let 
them  come  in  two  or  three  times  a  week  to  have  their 
hair  dressed  by  her,  and  try  and  make  shift  on  the 
other  days. 

Letty  thought  it  was  very  naughty  of  Sybil  to 
scream  and  run  away  when  Dick  combed  her  hair, 
and  offered  her  own  head  to  be  operated  on,  setting 
her  lips  with  the  determination  of  a  martyr  that  no 
suffering  should  wring  a  sound  from  her,  but  Dick 
would  not  put  her  to  the  test,  and~  he  soon  forgot 
all  about  it,  and  wondered  why  Letty  sat  with  her 
arms  folded  on  the  table  and  her  chin  resting  on 
them  in  deep  thought,  and  still  more  when  she  drew 
a  chair  in  front  of  the  fireplace  and  mounted  on  it 
and  took  a  long  look  at  herself  in  the  little  mirror. 


THE  FLITTIA'G.  167 


"  What  a  vain  little  puss  it  is,"  he  said,  laughing, 
and  thinking  that  sweet,  little,  wistful  face  was  some- 
thing to  be  vain  of. 

But  Letty  flushed  all  over  to  her  finger-tips  at  his 
words,  and  jumping  down,  ran  and  hid  her  hot 
ashamed  little  face  on  his  shoulder. 

"  I  was  thinking,"  she  said — "  I  was  wondering, 
Dick,  if  you  would  love  us  quite  as  well — every  bit 
— not  a  tiny  bit  less — if  Sybil  and  me  was  ugly — 
quite  ugly — like  boys  you  know." 

Dick  laughed.     "  Are  boys  always  so  ugly,  Letty  ? " 

"Don't  laugh,  Dick.  I  want  you  to  say,  really 
and  truly,  if  we  was  ugly  and  horrid-looking  little 
girls,  would  you  love  us  ever  so  much  as  you  do 
now  ? " 

She  was  so  earnest  and  serious  that  Dick  did  not 
laugh  again,  but  took  the  sweet  little  face  between 
his  hands  and  looked  into  the  great  clear  eyes. 

"  You  never  could  be  ugly  or  horrid  to  me,  Letty  -, 
and  I  could  not  love  you  less  if  I  tried." 

This  seemed  to  satisfy  her,  and  she  got  down  and 
ran  away. 

The  next  day,  when  Dick  came  out  of  the  office, 
the  little  girls  were  not  waiting  for  him  at  the  corner, 
and  he  felt  a  little  surprised,  as  he  knew  this  was 


1 68  TIP  CAT. 

not  the  day  for  Mrs.  Tysoe's  cart  to  go  out,  and  the 
children  had  told  him,  \\ith  some  mystery  at  dinner, 
that  they  were  not  going  to  Tip  Cat's,  as  they  had 
something  else  to  do. 

Neither  were  they  in  the  shop,  nor  looking  out 
at  the  sitting-room  window ;  and  though  tea  was 
ready  when  he  got  in,  there  was  no  sign  of  Letty  and 
Sybil.  He  called  them,  but  received  no  answer,  and 
took  up  a  paper  to  read  till  they  made  their  appear- 
ance. 

But  presently  he  became  aware  that  some  one 
was  outside  the  door,  which  stood  a  little  ajar ;  it 
moved  slightly  on  its  hinges  and  the  handle  turned  as 
if  a  hand  were  on  it  outside  and  he  heard  a  whis- 
per. 

"  Letty,"  he  said,  "is  that  you  ?  Make  haste  ,  I 
must  be  off  to  the  Ricketts'  after  tea." 

But  at  the  first  word  he  heard  a  rush  away 
from  the  door  and  down  the  passage  to  their  bedroom. 

He  thought  it  was  some  game,  and  fell  into  what 
he  supposed  the  humor  of  it. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  aloud  to  himself,  (:  I  suppose 
Letty  and  Sybil  have  gone  out  to  tea,  so  I  must 
begin." 


THE  FLITTING.  169 


Again  the  steps  came  stealing  along  the  passage 
and  again  hesitated  at  the  door,  and  this  time  Dick 
got  up  very  quietly  and  went  on  tip-toe  to  the  door, 
and,  before  the  children  had  time  to  run  away,  threw 
it  open. 

But  instead  of  the  burst  of  laughter  that  he  ex- 
pected to  end  the  joke,  the  children  gave  a  cry  and 
rushed  at  Dick,  and  getting  behind  him,  held  on  to 
his  arms  and  coat,  so  that  he  could  not  turn. 

"  Oh,  Dick,  don't  look  at  us  !  You  promised  you 
would  love  us  just  the  same,  and  we  never  could 
have  done  our  hair  ourselves !  And  Sybil  couldn't 
help  screaming  when  you  combed  it,  and  Mrs. 
Tysoe  said  it  would  be  a  good  thing — Oh  Dick  ! — 
don't— don't !  " 

For  Dick  had  them  by  this  time  well  in  view,  and 
was  crying — yes,  actually  crying — over  two  little 
cropped  heads. 

The  next  day  the  children  came  back  from  Tip 
Cat's  in  the  greatest  state  of  satisfaction.  Three 
things  had  happened  which  had  pleased  them,  and 
they  could  hardly  tell  which  was  the  nicest. 

First,  Tip  Cat  had  never  even  noticed  that  their 
hair  wats  cut  short,  and  when  they  told  him,  said 
they  looked  more  than  ever  like  the  Letty  he  had 


170  TIP  CAT. 

known  long  ago.  Then  he  told  them  that  the  cor- 
poral nearly  always  came  from  the  town  by  way  of 
the  Rickett's  cottage,  and  should  call  for  the  children 
just  the  same.  The  children  were  both  surprised 
and  pleased  to  find  that  old  Ridge  came  that  way,  for 
it  had  been  one  of  their  objections  to  the  Ricketts' 
that  it  was  so  far  from  Tip  Cat's  and  that  they  should 
never  be  able  to  go  there,  and  Dick  too,  wondered 
that  Ridge  should  care  to  go  quite  two  miles  out  of 
his  way,  or  his  master  to  send  him. 

But  the  third  thing  was  after  all  the  best.  "  For 
what  do  you  think  we  found,  Dick,  in  the  front  room 
on  a  table  ?  Two  beautiful  wax  dolls,  quite  as  large 
as  Rosabel ;  you  remember  Rosabel,  don't  you,  Dick  ? 
and  both  exactly  alike,  with  curly  golden  hair  and 
blue  eyes,  and  lovely  clothes,  all  to  take  off  and  on, 
and  white  frocks,  one  with  a  red  sash  and  the  other 
with  a  blue,  and  hats  and  cloaks,  and  shoes,  and 
socks.  Tip  Cat  was  quite  as  much  surprised  as  we 
were,  and  so  was  the  corporal,  but  he  said  he  thought 
they  must  be  meant  for  us  to  play  with  when  we 
came  to  see  him.  Wasn't  it  odd,  Dick,  for  we  had 
been  telling  him  only  a  little  time  ago  what  beauti- 
ful dolls  we  used  to  have  in  London,  and  that  we 
had  none  now  because  we  were  poor,  and  how  we 


THE  FLITTING. 


played  with  a  stuffed  rat  instead,  and  had  got  quite 
fond  of  it,  only  it  always  had  to  be  a  baby  in  long 
clothes  because  of  its  tail." 

Joe  Tysoe  was  quite  upset  at  the  idea  of  losing  his 
two  little  play-fellows,  and  would  willingly  have  re- 
duced the  rent  to  any  extent,  or  have  gone  without 
altogether  if  Dick  would  have  agreed  to  stop  on 
those  terms,  but  when  he  found  that  Dick  was  not 
to  be  persuaded  to  remain  rent  free,  he  did  all  he 
could  to  make  the  new  quarters  comfortable,  and 
helped  largely  in  the  moving,  only  stipulating  that 
the  little  girls  should  come  at  least  one  day  in  a 
week  for  a  drive  with  him,  and  now  and  then  to  have 
tea  and  help  grind  the  coffee. 

The  move  was  accomplished  on  Saturday,  when 
Mr.  Tysoe  came  in  from  his  rounds  and  could  take 
them  and  their  belongings  in  his  cart,  and  Mrs.  Ty- 
soe gave  them  a  grand  farewell  tea,  and  packed  a 
basket  of  groceries  to  start  them  with,  treating  them, 
altogether  as  if  they  were  going  to  a  desert  island, 
where  none  of  the  necessaries  of  life  were  to  be  pro- 
cured— an  idea  which  rather  pleased  and  excited  the 
little  girls,  who  had  found  a  copy  of  the  Swiss  Family 
Robinson  among  Tip  Cat's  books,  and  were  having  it 
read  to  them  by  the  corporal  when,  as  sometimes 


172  TIP  CAT. 

happened,  Tip  Cat  was  out,  and  they  were  left  with 
the  old  soldier  for  amusement  at  Tipton  Farm. 

It  was  a  beautiful  June  evening,  and  the  haymak- 
ing was  at  its  height,  and  Mr.  Tysoe's  cart,  in  the 
narrow  lanes  that  led  to  the  Ricketts'  cottage,  had 
every  now  and  then  to  press  close  to  the  hedge  to  let 
great,  loaded,  yellow  wagons  lumber  by,  and  the  usu- 
ally quiet  meadows  were  lively  with  the  voices  of 
the  copper-coloured  haymakers,  tossing  and  raking 
and  carting,  or  the  swish-swish  of  the  scythes  going 
like  clock-work,  laying  low  the  rippling,  brown-topped 
grass  in  sweet-smelling  green  swathes,  or  the  musi- 
cal click,  click  of  the  whetstones  sharpening  the 
scythes. 

Old  Ricketts  even  had  been  pressed  into  the  ser- 
vice, as  all  hands  were  wanted  to  carry  the  hay  in 
the  great  meadow  near  his  cottage,  and  Letty  and 
Sybil  could  hardly  stop  to  say  good-bye  to  Joe  Tysoe, 
so  anxious  were  they  to  run  off  and  make  their  first 
essay  at  hay-making  ;  and  when  Dick  had  unpacked 
and  settled  in  as  well  as  he  could  and  went  out  to 
find  them,  they  were  up  on  the  top  of  a  load  with  old 
Ricketts,  on  their  way  to  the  rick-yard,  promising  to 
come  back  in  what  they  call  in  those  parts  the  "  leer" 
wagon,  and  Dick,  finding  a  spare  rake,  fell  to  and 


THE  FLITTING. 


worked  with  a  will,  and  was  quite  surprised  to  find 
what  a  cure  hard  work  is  for  the  dismals. 

It  was  altogether  a  promising  beginning,  and  the 
farmhouse  bread  and  butter  and  milk  for  supper  was 
so  nice  that  they  none  of  them  noticed  the  roughness 
of  the  serving  up,  and  Letty  and  Sybil  were  asleep 
as  soon  as  their  heads  touched  the  pillow,  and  did 
not  even  hear  Dick  filling  their  bath. 


174  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TEA     AT     THE     GRANGE. 

JUST  a  month  had  passed  since  they  left  Mrs.  Ty- 
soe's,  and  it  was  the  middle  of  July,  and  one  Satur- 
day afternoon  Dick  was  sitting  on  that  same  little 
plank  bridge  where  he  had  sat  the  first  Sunday  after- 
noon. There  was  something  about  that  particular 
spot  which  invariably  brought  Kathie  Dumbleton 
back  to  his  mind.  Not  that  it  needed  any  particular 
place  to  do  that,  for  Dick  had  to  be  very  strict  with 
himself  to  keep  that  sweet  face  of  hers  from  coming 
between  him  and  his  writing  in  Mr.  Burgess's  room, 
or  from  appearing  constantly  amid  the  foolscap  and 
pink  tape  on  Mr.  Luptons  desk ;  but  as  he  thought 
it  his  duty  to  chase  away  day-dreams  in  office  hours, 
and  not  to  give  way  to  them  too  frequently  when  he 
was  with  Letty  and  Sybil,  he  considered  that  he 
might  now  and  then  indulge  himself  in  them,  and  so 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  175 

occasionally  he  would  come  to  that  little  wood,  and 
sit  there  while  the  children  went  on  to  see  Tip  Cat, 
or  played  down  by  the  water. 

That  month  had  been  successful  on  the  whole, 
quite  successful  so  far  as  living  within  their  income 
was  concerned,  but  even  now  he  was  not  able  to  save 
out  of  it,  for  Mrs.  Ricketts  was  no  manager,  nor  was 
Dick,  so  between  them  they  muddled  away  the  money, 
it  was  difficult  to  say  how.  Besides  this,  he  found 
that  the  walk  backwards  and  forwards  told  seriously 
on  his  boots,  and  he  was  obliged  to  get  a  new  pair, 
which  made  a  dreadful  hole  in  his  money,  and  led  him 
to  wonder  how  working  men  can  ever  keep  themselves 
and  large  families  in  boots  out  of  fourteen  shillings 
a  week,  or  sometimes  less. 

He  ought  to  be  satisfied,  he  told  himself,  with  the 
past  month ;  of  course  there  had  been  drawbacks, 
that  was  only  to  be  expected ;  the  days  were  not  al- 
ways bright  and  cheerful  with  haymaking,  the  hay 
was  carted  off  and  the  fields  left  bare,  and  cattle 
turned  in,  and  the  haymakers  disappeared,  and  the 
country  returned  to  its  usual  quiet ;  there  were  wet 
days  When  the  children  could  not  stir  beyond  the 
porch,  and  found  the  time  hang  heavy  on  their  hands 
as  they  counted  the  raindrops  from  the  eaves ;  there 


176  TIP  CAT. 

were  days  when  Mrs.  Ricketts  was  so  bad  with  rheum- 
atism that  she  could  not  do  anything,  not  even  boil 
a  potato  for  the  little  girls'  dinner,  and  Dick,  coming 
in  one  evening,  found  they  had  only  had  bread  and 
cheese  in  the  middle  of  the  day. 

He  did  not  come  home  to  dinner  as  he  had  done 
at  Mrs.  Tysoe's  but  took  something  in  his  pocket, 
and  made  a  substantial  tea  when  he  got  home  in  the 
evening.  He  thought  it  was  a  great  economy,  this 
saving  a  dinner  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  not  reckon- 
ing how  he  was  letting  himself  down,  or  noticing  that 
he  was  not  so  much  up  to  the  mark  as  he  used  to  be, 
was  sooner  tired,  and  less  inclined  for  exertion.  But 
after  that  day  when  the  children  had  nothing  but 
bread  and  cheese,  Dick  provided  that  it  should  never 
happen  again,  and  he  developed  quite  a  talent  for 
cooking,  and  broiled  chops  and  poached  eggs,  and 
even  made  puddings,  in  a  manner  that  quite  surprised 
Mrs.  Ricketts,  whose  one  idea  was  a  greasy  fry, 
which  was  fatiguing  after  a  time. 

There  were  difficulties  now  and  then  over  the 
children's  clothes,  little  repairs  that  wanted  to  be  done 
to  tapes,  buttons,  and  gathers.  Mrs.  Ricketts  was 
willing  enough,  but  her  working  powers  at  the  best 
had  been  limited  to  what  she  called  "  gobblefying," 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  1^^ 

and  now  her  fingers  were  so  twisted  and  cramped 
that  it  was  not  often  she  could  hold  a  needle. 

Dick's  shirt-buttons,  too,  came  off  in  a  most  dis- 
tracting way  ;  he  had  long  ceased  to  be  critical  over 
the  washing  of  shirts  and  collars,  but  buttons  cannot 
be  disregarded,  and  he  sometimes  thought,  the  laun- 
dress must  pick  them  off  on  purpose,  and  regard  them 
as  her  lawful  perquisite. 

That  day  when  he  came  home,  for  on  Saturday  he 
was  home  by  three  o'clock,  he  found  one  of  his  shirts 
laid  out  with  great  pomp  on  his  bed,  and  became 
conscious  that  there  was  some  excitement  connected 
with  it,  as  the  little  girls  followed  him  up  stairs,  and 
stood  watching  to  see  the  effect  produced  upon  him 
when  he  saw  it.  It  was  rather  crumpled,  and  his 
first  idea  was  that  the  children  had  been  trying  their 
hands  at  ironing,  and  had  been  experimenting  on 
his  shirts.  But  on  further  examination  he  observed 
that  a  very  large  pearl  button  had  been  sewn  on  the 
front  with  apparently  black  cotton,  and  a  little  spot 
of  blood  underneath  testified  that  it  had  been  a 
work  of  difficulty,  if  not  of  danger. 

"  Oh  !  Dick,  how  do  you  think  it  looks  ?  " 

"  Oh ,!  Dick,  it  took  us  all  the  morning,  and  we  was 
so  afraid  it  wouldn't  be  done  before  you  came  in  !  " 


178  TIP  CAT. 

"  Oh  !  Dick,  you'll  put  it  on  at  once,  won't  you, 
to  see  how  it  feels  ?  " 

"  It  wasn't  black  cotton,  Dick,  only  it  took  us 
such  a  long  time  to  thread  the  needle,  and  the  cot- 
ton will  get  so  dirty !  " 

"  It  was  Sybil's  finger  that  bled." 

Nothing  would  satisfy  them  but  that  Dick  should 
put  on  the  shirt  at  once,  and  when  he  came  down 
with  it  on,  he  was  obliged  to  unbutton  his  waistcoat 
to  assure  them  of  the  fact,  and  they  were  much 
pleased  with  the  effect,  and  were  quite  sorry  that 
Dick's  waistcoat  buttoned  up  so  high  as  to  conceal 
the  work  of  art. 

Dick  had,  to  tell  the  truth,  found  some  difficulty  in 
forcing  the  button  through  the  buttonhole,  which 
was  not  intended  to  allow  the  passage  of  so  large  a 
body,  and  it  was  not  made  more  easy  by  the  button 
having  been  sewn  on  not  immediately  beneath  the 
hole,  but  he  declared  it  was  highly  satisfactory,  and 
they  surveyed  it  with  honest  pride. 

Dick  was  smiling  to  himself  as  he  thought  of  this, 
as  he  sat  on  the  bridge  that  afternoon,  the  children 
having  run  on  to  see  if  Tip  Cat  were  at  home,  chiefly, 
Dick  was  persuaded,  that  they  might  tell  him  of  this 
morning's  industry,  and  perhaps  to  offer  to  operate 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  17.9 

on  his  and  the  corporal's  shirts  but  they  had  promised 
not  to  be  long,  as  they  were  to  go  home  to  tea. 

He  remembered  having  told  Kathie  Dumbleton  of 
his  two  little  sisters,  and  how  amused  she  had  been 
at  some  of  their  doings  and  sayings.  Ah  !  who  was 
talking  to  her  now  ?  Who  might  be  calling  up  a 
blush  to  her  fair  cheek,  or  a  smile  to  her  soft  eyes  ? 
Who  might  be  listening  to  the  low,  gentle  voice  ? 
Ah  what  luck  some  fellows  had  !  But  for  him — 
•  never,  never  again  !  And,  as  these  despairing 
thoughts  passed  through  his  mind,  a  step  sounded 
on  the  path,  and  a  girl's  figure  came  towards  him 
through  the  soft,  chequered  lights  and  shadows  of 
the  wood,  and  Kathie  Dumbleton  herself  stood  there 
holding  out  her  hand,  and  saying,  "  How  do  you  do, 
Mr.  Lucas  ?  I  had  no  idea  you  were  in  this  neigh- 
borhood." 

Dick  stumbled  to  his  feet  in  a  strange  bewilder- 
ment. Was  it  a  dream,  or  an  apparition,  or  a  mirage 
like  thirsty  travellers  see — cool  water  and  green 
trees  in  the  scorching  desert?  Could  it  be  true, 
and  that  she  should  recognize  him  in  his  threadbare 
coat,  greasy  at  the  elbows  and  frayed  at  the  wrists  ? 
He  was  keenly  conscious  of  his  old  boots  and  crum- 
pled wristbands,  while  she  only  noticed  that  the 


180  TIP  CAT. 

sunny  faced  lad  she  had  met  last  year  at  Oxford  had 
grown  into  a  handsome,  striking  looking  man,  whose 
face  had  gained  in  strength  and  thought,  if  it  had  lost 
something  of  the  freshness  and  brightness. 

After  the  first  moment  of  intoxicating  delight,  a 
feeling  of  chill  disappointment  and  embarrassment 
overwhelmed  Dick,  while  Kathie  felt  puzzled  and  a 
little  bit  uncomfortable  at  his  evident  agitation,  at 
his  eyes  that  said  too  much,  and  his  lips  that  said 
too  little.  The  fact  \vas  they  were  re-opening  this 
love  story  of  theirs  at  different  parts.  With  Kathie 
it  was  only  in  the  opening  numbers,  and  she  was  not 
quite  sure  if  it  would  turn  into  a  romance  after  all, 
'or  if  it  might  not  be  merely  a  pretty  sketch  of  Oxford 
Commemoration,  and  not  even  "  to  be  continued  in 
our  next."  She  had  liked  Dick  very  much,  and  had 
thought  of  him  very  often  since,  and  had  even  kept 
a  certain  little  bunch  of  wild  flowers,  picked  by  the 
riverside,  till  it  was  little  more  than  hay — indeed  it 
was  only  a  week  or  two  ago  that  she  had  thrown  it 
away,  and  then  it  was  with  a  sigh  and  a  feeling  that 
she  was  growing  old  and  wise,  and  casting  off  school- 
girl sentiment,  and  that  it  was  a  sad  world  after 
all.  But  still,  I  think  Dick's  image  was  fading 
a  little  from  her  memory,  and  that,  but  for  that  un- 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  181 

expected  meeting,  he  might  have,  in  time,  been  for- 
gotten. 

But  with  Dick  it  was  different.  He  had  reached 
the  beginning  of  the  third  volume ;  in  those  day- 
dreams on  the  plank  bridge,  or  when  his  thoughts 
played  him  false  at  Mr.  Burgess's  or  smoking  in  the 
porch,  at  the  Ricketts',  or  in  Mrs.  Tysoe's  little 
room  after  supper  (and  don't  suppose  that  the 
scenes  called  up  in  his  mind  were  any  the  less  fair 
and  romantic  because  his  surroundings  were  common 
and  vulgar ;  because  there  may  have  been  bread  and 
cheese  on  the  table,  or  a  short  pipe  in  his  mouth), 
he  had  rehearsed  so  many  love  scenes  with  Kathie 
Dumbleton,  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  forget 
them  all,  and  to  stand  there  on  the  bridge  talking 
polite  commonplaces  like  an  ordinary  acquaintance. 

But  girls  are  quick  readers,  and,  by  the  time  Letty 
and  Sybil  appeared  running  along  the  path  towards 
them,  I  think  that  Kathie  was  not  very  far  behind 
Dick  in  that  pretty  love  story,  the  pages  of  which 
they  were  turning  together,  while  the  sunbeams  stole 
through  the  thick  elm  boughs  to  peep  at  them,  and 
set  the  quiet,  brown  water  of  the  stream  beneath 
them  sparkling  and  dancing  under  Kathie's  eyes, 
which  found  it  did  not  do  to  meet  Dick's  too  often. 


1 82  ,  TIP   CAT. 

As  to  what  they  said,  the  robin  perched  on  the 
hand-rail  of  the  bridge,  need  not  have  turned  his 
head  to  listen  so  inquisitively,  for  it  was  only  asking 
and  telling  how  they  both  happened  to  be  there,  and 
what  Kathie  had  been  doing  since  they  met,  and 
what  news  there  was  from  Jack  in  India,  and  how 
Mrs.  Vivian  at  the  Grange  was  her  aunt,  and  Kathie 
was  often  staying  there. 

Dick  did  not  tell  her  much  of  himself,  only  that 
he  had  left  Oxford  when  his  grandfather  died,  and 
had  come  to  live  at  Slowmill  with  his  two  little 
sisters. 

But  Kathie  had  noticed  one  or  two  things  by  this 
time,  though  her  eyes  seemed  riveted  to  the  bright- 
ness where  the  sunbeam  touched  the  water.  She 
had  seen  that  he  was  shabby  and  sad,  and  that  his 
voice  grew  low  and  full  of  regret  when  he  spoke  of 
the  bright  old  days  at  Oxford,  and  a  little  hard  and 
bitter  when  he  answered  her  wonders  that  she  had 
not  met  him  anywhere,  and  spoke  of  tennis  parties 
and  dances. 

"  And  these  are  your  little  sisters  ?  "  she  said,  as 
Letty  and  Sybil  ran  up.  "  And  what  a  wonderful 
old  dog  !  Is  that  yours  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,"  Letty  answered ;  "  it's  Tip  Cat's  ;  but 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  183 

he  always  comes  to  take  care  of  us  till  we  find  Dick; 
and,  oh  Dick,  Tip  Cat  wants  to  know  if  we  would 
like  some  rabbits,  and  he  wanted  to  shoot  some  for 
us,  but  we  wouldn't  let  him." 

"  Oh,  never  mind  the  rabbits,"  said  Dick,  looking 
more  critically  than  he  had  ever  done  before  at  the 
two  little  girls,  and  wishing  that  they  had  on  their 
Sunday  frocks  and  that  Sybil  would  not  always  wear 
her  hat  on  the  back  of  her  head,  and  that  Letty's 
frock  was  not  out  at  gathers.  "  This  is  Miss  Dumble- 
ton  that  I  have  told  you  about.  You  remember 
Jack,  don't  you  ?  who  took  you  to  the  Crystal  Palace 
once  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes ;  we  had  ices,  and  mine  was  striped. 
Are  you  Jack's  sister  ?  and  is  he  here  ? " 

"  No,  I  am  Jack's  cousin,"  she  answered ;  and 
Dick  thought  there  had  never  been  anything  so  grace- 
ful and  lovely  as  the  way  in  which  she  took  the  little 
girls'  hands  in  hers  and  kissed  their  cheeks.  How 
could  Sybil  presume  to  take  away  her  sunshade  and 
put  it  up  over  her  own  little  ragamuffin  head,  and  Letty 
to  keep  hold  of  the  pretty  hand  and  slip  the  rings  up 
and  down  the  slender  white  fingers  ;  and  yet  Kathie 
did  not  seem  to  mind,  but  smiled  down  on  them  as  if 
she  liked  it. 


1 84  TIP  CAT. 

"  Now,  listen,"  she  said,  "  for  I  have  a  plan,  if 
you  have  no  other  engagements  this  evening." 

Dick  laughed.  What  engagements  wefe  they  likely 
to  have,  unless  it  were  to  drink  tea  in  the  Tysoes' 
little  back-parlor  ? 

Kathie  hesitated  a  minute,  with  a  shy  little  look  at 
Dick,  as  if  she  were  weighing  propriety,  and  then  at 
the  children's  eager,  upturned  faces,  as  if  to  find  an 
excuse  in  them,  and  then  she  went  on — "  I  am  all 
alone  this  evening.  Aunt  Vivian  has  gone  over  to 
Stanlake  to  spend  the  day,  and  may  not  come  back 
till  eight  or  nine  -,  so  won't  you  come  and  have  tea 
with  me  ?  We  will  have  it  in  the  garden,"  she  went 
on  quickly,  in  answer  to  a  negative  movement  of 
Dick's  head,  "  and  you  can  see  the  peacocks  and 
the  Persian  kittens,  and  the  flowers." 

Poor  Dick !  he  was  sorely  tempted,  and  the  child- 
ren's eyes  turned  to  him  with  such  a  world  of  en- 
treaty in  them  !  but  he  had  an  under-feeling  that  it 
would  be  better,  wiser,  honester  not  to  go.  What 
right  had  a  shabby,  struggling  lawyer's  clerk  to  go  as 
a  guest  into  Mrs.  Vivian's  beautiful  house  ?  What 
right  had  poor  Dick  Lucas  in  the  shadow  to  con- 
sider himself  on  anything  like  terms  of  equality  with 
fair,  happy  Kathie  Dumbleton,  in  the  sunshine  of 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  185 

wealth  and  prosperity  ?  It  was  playing  with  edged 
tools,  but  as  far  as  he  was  concerned  he  had  already 
cut  his  fingers  hopelessly,  and  would  carry  the  scars 
to  his  grave,  but  what  if  she  should  get  a  scratch  ? 
Could  he  trust  himself  to  be  in  her  company  for  a 
blissful  hour  and  not  betray  his  feelings,  and  hurt 
her  gentle,  tender  heart  by  a  cowardly  display  of  his 
hopeless,  desperate  love  ? 

"  Thank  you,"  he  said,  and  he  thought  that  his 
voice  sounded  quite  insolently  cool  and  ungrateful, 
"  it  is  awfully  good  of  you  to  ask  us,  but  we  must  go 
home  to  tea,  they  will  be  expecting  us." 

"  Oh,  Dick  !  "  began  Sybil,  but  Letty  was  begin- 
ning to  understand  Dick  better,  and  to  know  that  he 
would  not  disappoint  them  without  some  good  reason, 
so  she  gave  Sybil  a  little  nudge  to  be  quiet,  and  pre- 
pared to  relinquish  the  brilliant  prospects  of  tea  and 
peacocks  without  a  murmur. 

But  Kathie  had  no  idea  of  giving  up  her  plan  so 
easily. 

"  It  is  not  very  polite  of  you,  I  must  say,  Mr.  Lucas, 
to  refuse  my  invitation  when  I  told  you  I  was  alone, 
and  want  some  one  to  amuse  me.  But,  if  you  .will 
not  come,  I  am  sure  Letty  and  Sybil  will ;  indeed,  I 
don't  mean  to  let  them  off,  so  if  you  must  go  home 
to  tea  you  will  have  to  go  alone." 


1 86  TIP  CAT, 

And  with  that  she  walked  off,  holding  a  hand  of 
each  of  the  little  girls,  who  went  with  her  nothing 
loth,  but  casting  deprecating  glances  back  at  Dick, 
hoping  he  would  not  be  vexed  with  them. 

"And  Dick  stood  by  the  bridge  looking  after  them, 
hesitating  for  half  a  minute  ;  many  a  time  afterwards 
did  he  blame  himself  for  that  pitiful  weakness,  and 
told  himself  that,  if  he  only  had  been  a  man,  he 
would  have  shaken  himself  free  from  the  fascination, 
and  not  fluttered  round  the  flame  like  a  silly  moth. 

But  at  the  turn  of  the  path  Kathie  looked  back  at 
him,  and  he  followed  her.  Why  not  ?  Why  should 
not  he  have  one  hour  of  happiness  ?  It  would  be 
the  last  in  all  the  long  hours  of  dull  life  before  him. 
Just  for  this  one  evening  he  would  forget  all  the 
troubles  and  worries,  and  the  office,  and  the  weekly 
bills,  and  enjoy  himself.  So  he  quickened  his  foot- 
steps, and  overtook  them  as  they  came  out  of  the 
wood  into  the  park,  and  Kathie,  looking  back  at  him 
with  a  smile,  said,  "  That's  right,  you  have  thought 
better  of  it !  " 

There  was  not  room  for  all  of  them  to  walk 
abreast,  and  the  children  still  had  hold  of  her  hands, 
but  Dick  was  well  content  to  walk  behind  and  get 
a  look  or  a  word  from  her  now  and  then  over  her 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  187 

shoulder,  and  to  tread  the  same  path  she  was  tread- 
ing, and  to  take  away  a  bramble  that  clung  to  her 
dress,  and  to  feast  his  eyes  on  her  sligh'.,  graceful 
figure,  and  on  the  sunny  chestnut  hair,  coiled  so 
softly  low  on  the  milk-white  neck.  As  for  her  dress, 
though  his  eyes  were  never  off  her  all  the  way  through 
the  park,  he  could  not  have  described  it,  for  Kathie 
Dumbleton  had  that  rare  art  of  dressing  so  that  you 
only  saw  that  she  was  sweet  and  lovely,  and  did  not 
notice  the  details  of  material  and  trimming  and 
make. 

Dick  had  no  time  to  notice  the  beauty  of  the  park 
except  as  a  background  to  the  lithe  young  figure,  or 
to  see  the  broad  shadows  on  the  grass,  and  the  un- 
dulating slopes,  and  the  great  spreading  elm  trees 
and  giant  oaks.  Presently  they  passed  through  a 
little  iron  gate  into  the  garden  and  along  a  shady 
shrubbery  path  out  on  to  a  wide  lawn  of  velvet  turf 
sloping  up  to  the  house,  the  long  front  of  which  lay 
before  them.  There  was  nothing  architecturally 
beautiful  about  the  house,  but  the  warm  tiles  of  the 
roof,  and  the  old  bricks  showing  here  and  there  among 
the  thick-growing  ivy  and  Virginian  creeper  were 
pleasant  to  the  eye,  and  the  square  windows  with 
their  heavy  white  frames  had  a  friendly,  homish  look. 


1 88  TIP  CAT. 

There  were  gay  flower-beds  in  geometrical  patterns 
in  front  of  the  house,  dazzling  with  scarlet  and  purple 
and  orange,  and  to  the  left  some  broad  stone  steps 
led  up  to  a  terrace  skirting  that  side  of  the  house, 
and  on  those  steps  a  peacock  was  spreading  his 
magnificent  tail  in  the  sun  and  strutting  with  pardon- 
able pride,  and  another  looked  on  from  the  balustrade 
behind.  Below  the  terrace  lay  the  rose-garden,  but 
Kathie  led  the  way  to  the  right  where  two  great  black 
cedars  stood  throwing  deep  shade  on  the  turf  as  if 
entering  a  solemn  protest  against  the  frivolity  of  the 
summer  flowers.  Some  garden-chairs  were  standing 
in  the  cool  shadow,  which  was  very  inviting  after 
the  stretch  of  hot  July  sun  across  the  lawn,  and  here 
Kathie  left  Dick  while  she  went  into  the  house  to 
hasten  the  appearance  of  tea ;  and  she  took  the  little 
girls  with  her,  for  she  had  seen  without  appearing  to 
notice  it,  how  Dick  had  been  making  little  hasty  and 
unsuccessful  efforts  to  improve  the  children's  appear- 
ance, setting  Sybil's  hat  straight  and  smoothing  the 
hair  off  Letty's  forehead. 

So  Dick  sat  under  the  cedar  in  one  of  those  com- 
fortable, cushioned,  garden-chairs,  in  which  the 
proper  depth  of  seat  and  slope  of  back  were  calcu- 
lated to  a  nicety,  with  half-shut  eyes  of  dreamy  satis- 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  189 

faction,  watching  the  peacocks  strutting  on  the  terrace 
steps,  and  the  trembling  of  the  hot  air  above  the 
lawn  and  the  dazzle  of  the  flowers  in  the  beds,  from 
which  came  heavy-laden  bees  every  now  and  then, 
passing  with  a  hum  of  reproach  to  the  idler.  Quick- 
footed,  quiet  servants  were  meanwhile  spreading  a 
little  tea-table  with  dainty  china  and  shining  silver, 
and  a  gentle  chocolate  Dachshund  came  softly 
waddling  on  very  bow  legs  and  stretched  a  yard  and 
a  half  length  of  dog  at  Dick's  feet. 

Kathie  and  the  children  came  back  by  way  of  the 
rose-garden,  as  the  beautiful  roses  pinned  to  each 
child's  frock  bore  witness,  but  that  ungrateful  Dick 
hardly  noticed  the  improvement  worked  in  their  ap_ 
pearance,  how  Letty's  gathers  had  been  mended  and 
Sybil's  hat  bent  straight,  and  how  smooth  and  neatly 
parted  each  bright  little  head  was,  and  how  the  same 
subtle  violet  fragrance  hung  about  them  as  it  did 
about  Kathie.  But  how  could  Dick  have  eyes  for 
any  one  but  Kathie  herself  when  he  knew  it  was  only 
for  an  hour,  and  then,  never,  never  again.  Only  an 
hour,  so  the  poor  young  fellow  poisoned  the  pleasure 
of  the  present  by  anticipation  of  the  future,  only  an 
hour,  during  which  he  might  look  at  her  and  hear  her 
voice,  and  perhaps  now  and  then  touch  her  hand  in 


19°  TIP  CAT. 

passing  a  cup,  or  feel  her  dress  brush  against  him, 
and  then  it  would  be  time  to  go,  and  perhaps  she 
would  walk  across  the  lawn  with  them  and  kiss  the 
children,  and  then  he  should  hold  her  little  hand  in 
his  just  for  two  seconds,  no  more,  and  she  would  look 
at  him  and  say  "  Good-by,"  and  then  he  would  go 
away  and  never  see  her  again,  never,  all  through  a 
long  life,  reaching  perhaps  as  his  grandfather's  had 
done,  to  nearly  eighty,  working  at  Mr.  Burgess's  day 
after  day,  week  after  week,  year  after  year,  with  the 
one  excitement  and  interest  of  his  life  being  how  he 
could  save  a  halfpenny  here  and  a  penny  there  on 
his  weekly  bills.  He  had  heard  of  men  living  on 
faithful  to  the  memory  of  their  first  love.  Yes,  but 
surely  they  had  something  more  to  remember  than 
he  had.  Why,  he  could  count  the  number  of  hours 
he  had  spent  in  Kathie's  company,  could  tell  off  on 
the  fingers  of  one  hand  how  often  he  had  held  her 
hand  in  his.  And  was  this  enough  to  live  on  for  it 
might  be  fifty  years  ? 

But  meantime  Kathie  was  pouring  out  tea  and 
talking  and  laughing  with  the  children,  and  Dick  too 
joined  in,  and  talked  and  laughed,  in  spite  of  the 
fifty  years  he  was  inwardly  contemplating. 

How  delightful  it  was  to  have  his  cup  handed  to 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  191 

him  by  Kathie,  and  what  a  pretty  cup  it  was  too, 
white,  lined  with  turquoise  blue.  He  had  never 
realized  how  entirely  he  had  lost  all  the  elegancies 
of  life,  he  had  hardly  indeed  missed  them,  till  he 
got  this  glimpse  of  them  again. 

Letty  and  Sybil  of  course  exclaimed  openly  at 
everything,  including  the  cakes  and  bread  and  butter, 
and  the  thick  cream,  and  Dick,  while  he  wished  they 
would  not  be  so  very  outspoken,  felt  ashamed  to  con- 
fess to  himself  that  he  felt  much  the  same,  and  that 
it  was  not  only  because  Kathie  poured  out  the  tea 
that  he  liked  it  so,  but  because  it  was  in  delicate 
china,  and  was  strong,  and  had  cream  in  it.  How 
quickly  the  time  rushed  past,  tea  was  done,  and  they 
went  to  see  the  conservatory  and  the  gardens,  and 
the  children  wandered  away,  exploring  by  themselves 
leaving  Dick  and  Kathie  loitering  in  the  rose-garden. 

What  did  they  talk  of  ?  Nothing  worth  telling — 
sorts  of  roses,  London  flower-shows,  colors  and  tints, 
and  sometimes  they  were  silent,  looking  both  of  them 
into  the  deep,  crimson  heart  of  a  rose. 

"Dick!  Dick!  where  are  you?"  The  children 
are  calling  from  the  terrace,  the  sunset  is  flaming  in 
the  sky  and  Dick  wakes  with  a  start  and  a  cold  sink- 
ing of  the  heart,  to  the  fact  that  it  is  time  to  go. 


192  TIP  CAT. 

Just  as  he  had  fancied,  she  walks  across  the  lawn 
with  them,  through  the  shrubbery  to  fhe  gate  into 
the  park,  and,  just  as  he  had  pictured,  she  kisses  the 
little  girls  who  cling  round  her  with  many  expres- 
sions of  affection  and  desire  to  meet  again.  And 
then  she  turns  to  Dick  and  holds  out  her  hand  and 
looks  at  him  and  says  "  Good-bye.  " 

The  children  have  run  on  thinking  they  see  Tip 
Cat  in  the  distance,  and  Dick  holds  Kathie's  hand 
in  his  just  as  he  had  imagined ;  but  he  had  never 
dreamt  that  he  could  do  such  a  thing  as  seize  both 
those  soft  white  hands  in  his  and  hold  them  tight 
for  two  whole  minutes,  covering  them  with  burning 
passionate  kisses  and  murmuring,  "  Oh !  Kathie,  my 
love,  my  love,  good-bye  !  " 

"  Why !  Kathie,  child,  what  are  you  doing  here  ? 
They  told  me  you  were  in  the  garden,  and  I  have 
been  looking  for  you  everywhere.  Did  you  think  I 
was  never  coming  back  ?  You're  a  nice  little  per- 
son, I  must  say,  to  leave  to  yourself,  for  I  hear  you 
have  had  company,  and  a  gentleman  too,  to  tea  ! 
Who  was  he,  dear  ?  Simpson  did  not  seem  to  know 
—why,  Kathie  darling,  what  is  it  ? " 

The  girl's  face  was  very  pale,  even  in  the  dark  of 
the  shrubbery,  for  the  sun  had  set  an  hour  ago,  and 


TEA  AT  THE  GRANGE.  193 

her  hands  were  limp  and  cold  as  Mrs.  Vivian  took 
them  in  hers. 

"  It  is  nothing,"  Kathie  said,  "  nothing,  but — " 
and  she  let  the  kind  old  friend  draw  her  head  down 
on  to  her  motherly  breast — "  but  I  think  my  heart  is 
broken." 


194  TIPCAT. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

LETTY'S  BIRTHDAY. 

"  DICK,  don't  people's  birthdays  always  come  on 
the  same  day  every  year  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Letty,  I  suppose  they  do." 

"Then  Mrs.  Ricketts  was  wrong.  I  knew  she 
was,  for  she  said  that  my  birthday  came  on  a  Mon- 
day this  year,  and  it  was  on  Sunday  last  year,  so,  of 
course,  it  always  will  come  on  a  Sunday,  won't  it, 
Dick?" 

Dick  was  lying  flat  on  his  back  in  the  meadow, 
looking  straight  up  into  the  sky,  and  his  thoughts 
were  so  far  away  that  it  needed  a  strong  effort  to  get 
them  back-sufficiently  to  allow  of  his  unravelling  the 
mystery  of  days  of  the  week  and  days  of  the  month, 
and,  having  done  so,  he  prepared  to  let  his  thoughts 
drift  away  again,  but  Letty  had  a  good  deal  more  to 
say  on  the  subject. 

"  Well,   Dick,  if  it   really  is  on   Monday,  do  you 


LE  TTY '  S  BIR  THDA  Y.  195 

know  it  will  be  Bank-holiday  as  well,  Mrs.  Ricketts 
says,  and  you  won't  have  to  go  to  the  office  ?  I 
wanted  it  to  be  on  a  Sunday  so  that  you  might  be 
at  home,  but  if  it  is  Bank-holiday  I  would  rather 
have  it  on  a  Monday,  because  we  can  play  and  do 
something  really  nice.  What  shall  we  do  on  my 
birthday,  Dick  ?  Of  course  I  know  we  are  much 
too  poor  to  have  birthday  presents  or  an  iced  cake, 
but  don't  you  think  we  might  do  something,  Dick  ? " 

"  I  don't  know,  Letty.  Shall  we  stop  in  bed  all 
day  for  a  change  ?  " 

"  I  don't  think  I  should  like  that,  should  you, 
Dick  ? " 

"  Yes,  as  well  as  anything  else." 

"  Dick  ? " 

"  Well  ? " 

"  Don't  you  think  we  might  go  and  have  tea  with 
Kathie  Dumbleton  again  ? " 

"  No." 

"  I  met  her  this  morning." 

"  Did  you  ?  Where  ?  "  Dick  was  wide  awake 
now,  and  had  raised  himself  on  his  elbow. 

"  On  the  way  to  Tip-Cat's.  She  was  driving,  but 
she  stopped." 

"  What  did  she  say  ? " 


I9  TIP  CA  T. 

"  She  asked  where  Sybil  was,  and  who  the  cor- 
poral was,  and  where  I  was  going." 

"  Anything  else  ?  " 

"  No,  I  don't  think  so ;  but  she  kissed  me  once  for 
myself  and  once  for  Sybil. 

"  Did  she  say  anything  about  me  ? "  asked  poor 
hungry  Dick. 

"  No ;  but,  Dick,  she  kissed  me  again  after  the 
kiss  for  Sybil,  and  it  was  a  longer,  nicer,  kiss  than 
either,  and,  Dick,  I  thought  she  meant  it  for  you," 
said  the  cunning,  loving  little  soul,  longing  to  com- 
fort him,  and  finding  the  way  instinctively. 

Letty's  birthday  ?  Dick  wondered  what  could  be 
done  to  celebrate  it,  as  he  turned  over  the  few  pence 
that  remained  after  the  bills  were  paid.  It  used  to 
be  so  easy  to  get  up  some  sort  of  festivity,  but  now, 
apart  from  the  money  difficulty,  he  did  not  seem  to 
have  any  energy  or  invention.  He  only  hoped 
the  little  girls  might  devise  something  that  would  be 
within  his  means  and  power  to  carry  out. 

But  one  evening  when  he  came  back  from  Slow- 
mill,  the  children  met  him  nearly  half  way  to  the 
town,  having  been  on  the  look-out  for  him  all  the 
afternoon,  going  a  few  steps  every  two  or  three  min- 
tes,  almost  unconsciously,  in  their  impatience,  for 


LE  TTY'S  BIR THDA  Y.  197 

Dick  did  not  like  their  roaming  about*  the  roads  by 
themselves,  so  they  generally  waited  at  the  gate  into 
the  field  to  receive  him.  But  to-day  something  so 
very  important  had  happened  that  they  quite  forgot 
to  explain  how  they  came  to  be  half  a  mile  from 
home  without  their  hats. 

Letty  had  got  a  letter.  So  few  letters  came  to 
the  Ricketts'  that  the  old  postman  left  the  delivery 
of  it  to  the  very  last,  so  it  was  nearly  noonday  before 
he  hobbled  across  the  meadow  and  read  out  the  ad- 
dress to  Mrs.  Ricketts  and  the  little  girls,  just  as 
they  were  putting  ori  the  potatoes  for  dinner. 

"  Miss  Lettice  Lucas, 

"  Mr.  Ricketts, 
"  Near  Longmead  Farm, 

11  Slowmill." 

"  That's  me  ;  "  said  Letty ;  "  I  had  a  valentine  once 
from  Dick  and  it  was  directed  Miss  Lettice  Lucas." 

"  But  it's  not  Valentine's  day,"  objected  Sybil. 

"  No,  but  it's  nearly  my  birthday  and  I  dare  say 
some  one  has  made  a  mistake  and  does  not  know 
that  it  comes  on  Monday  this  year." 

They  both  of  them  made  a  careful  study  of  the  di- 


198  TIP  CAT. 

rection,  and  so  did  Mrs.  Ricketts,  putting  on  her  large 
pair  of  horn-rimmed  spectacles  to  see  better,  but  she 
was  not  much  "  more  of  a  scholard  "  than  Letty  and 
Sybil,  and  only  managed  to  read  a  few  verses  out  of 
the  Bible  by  the  sweat  of  her  brow,  and  could  not  at- 
tempt to  decipher  handwriting,  so  they  resolved  to 
keep  it  till  Dick  came  home  before  they  opened  it ; 
and  this  was  the  cause  of  the  appearance  of  two  little 
hatless  girls  before  Dick's  astonished  eyes  on  his 
way  home  that  evening. 

The  letter  had  got  quite  worn  at  the  corners  and 
dirty  by  constant  scrutiny,  and  by  being  kept  some- 
times in  Letty's  little  pocket  and  sometimes  inside 
the  body  of  her  frock  for  greater  safety. 

Dick  was  tired  both  in  body  and  mind  and  was 
not  sorry  for  an  excuse  to  turn  into  the  nearest 
field  and  sit  down  on  the  grass. 

"  It's  not  Uncle  Tom's  writing,"  he  said,  "  nor 
Aunt  Maria's.  Who  can  it  be  ? " 

Letty  opened  it  with  due  solemnity ;  when  you  have 
only  had  two  letters  in  your  life,  you  would  not  be 
likely  to  resign  the  dignity  of  opening  one  to  other 
hands.  Inside  there  was  not  a  proper  letter,  beginning 
"  My  dear  Letty,"  and  ending  "  Yours  affectionately," 
not  even  a  birthday  card,  but  only  rather  a  crumpled 


LE  TTY'S  BIR  THDA  Y.  1 99 

bit  of  tissue  paper,  with  some  printing  on  it,  folded  in 
a  half-sheet  of  note-paper  with  a  few  lines  of  writing 
on  it.  Letty's  face  fell  with  disappointment,  but 
Dick  caught  it  from  her  hand  with  an  exclamation 
of  surprise.  "  It  is  a  5/.  note,"  he  said. 

"  For  Letty's  birthday,  to  be  spent  as  she  likes," 
was  written  on  the  paper. 

•  It  was  a  minute  or  two  before  Letty  could  realise 
that  the  dirty  piece  of  paper  was  of  the  same  value 
as  five  golden  sovereigns,  and,  meanwhile,  Dick  was 
examining  the  writing  and  the  postmark  to  find  out 
who  the  sender  could  be.  There  was  only  the  Slow- 
mill  postmark,  so  the  little  girls'  strong  persuasion 
that  it  came  from  Aunt  Maria  could  have  no  founda- 
tion, even  if  the  writing  had  the  least  resembled 
that  lady's  angular  style.  So  too  it  could  not  be  Mr. 
Murchison  ;  and  Mr.  Tysoe,  with  all  the  good-will 
in  the  world,  could  not  have  afforded  such  a  hand- 
some present,  and  would  not  have  given  it  secretly  if 
he  could.  Mr.  Burgess  ?  but  what  did  he  know  or 
care  about  Letty's  birthday  ?  Dick  hardly  thought  he 
was  aware  of  the  children's  existence. 

Who  then  could  it  be  but  Kathie  ?  No  doubt  the 
children  had  chattered  to  her  of  this  birthday,  and  of 
their  being  too  poor  to  celebrate  it  as  they  used,  and 


200  TIP  CAT. 

she  had  hit  upon  this  plan  of  giving  the  children  a 
treat  without  hurting  any  one's  pride.  To  be  sure 
the  writing  was  more  like  a  man's,  but  Dick  did  not 
know  what  Kathie's  writing  might  be  like,  and  be- 
sides it  might  be  feigned  or  directed  by  some  one. 
else.  So  Dick  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  Kathie's 
gift,  and  loved  her,  if  that  were  possible,  all  the  bet- 
ter for  it,  and  would  have  liked  to  have  the  envelope 
to  treasure  among  his  few  precious  keepsakes,  if 
Letty  would  have  parted  with  it ;  and  he  let  the 
children  guess  one  person  after  another  as  the  prob- 
able giver — Jenkins,  Mr.  Tysoe,  Tip  Cat,  Mr. 
Murchison,  Ellen  or  Grace — without  attempting  to 
set  them  right. 

But  how  was  it  to  be  spent  ?  Next  day  to  Letty's  ex- 
treme delight  he  changed  it  in  Slowmill  for  five  of 
the  brightest  Sovereigns  he  could  get.  It  should  all 
be  spent  on  Letty's  birthday,  and  Letty's  pleasure, 
and  not  a  halfpenny  should  get  mixed  in  with  the 
housekeeping  money  on  any  consideration,  though  a 
little  addition  to  that  very  scanty  allowance  would 
have  made  the  wheels  run  smoothly  for  weeks  to 
come. 

But  Letty  and  Sybil  soon  made  up  their  minds 
what  they  should  like  to  do,  and   their  plan  found 


LE  TTY'S  BIR  THDA  Y.  201 

great  favour  in  Dick's  eyes,  for  since  that  evening 
at  the  Grange  he  had  never  gone  anywhere  except 
straight  to  the  office  and  back,  not  even  to  church 
on  Sunday,  and  the  idea  of  getting  clear  away  from 
Slowmill  for  a  couple  of  days  seemed  to  Dick  like 
the  opening  of  a  cage  door  to  a  bird.  The  idea  was 
to  go  to  the  seaside  to  spend  Sunday  and  Monday. 
Letty  did  not  mind  where,  as  long  as  there  were 
shells  to  pick  up,  and  donkeys  to  ride,  and  rocks 
where  they  could  paddle  about  and  find  crabs ;  and 
after  much  consultation  Sandyshore  was  decided  on 
as  fulfilling  most  of  these  requirements,  and  also 
not  being  a  very  long  journey  and  not  being  a  likely 
place  to  meet  any  of  their  former  London  or  Oxford 
friends. 

No  doubt  it  would  be  overwhelmed  with  excur- 
sionists, but  this  would  be  the  same  everywhere, 
and  after  all,  they  were  excursionists  themselves,  so 
what  right  had  they  to  object  to  others  ?  They  would 
do  it  all  comfortably,  and  to  begin  with,  they  had  a 
fly  to  the  station,  and  the  children  much  regretted 
that  the  way  to  the  station  did  not  lie  through  the 
town,  so  that  the  Tysoes  might  see  their  unusual 
grandeur. 

It  gave  Letty  such  exquisite  satisfaction  to  think 


202  TIP  CAT. 

that  it  was  all  being  paid  for  out  of  her  money  and 
that  she'  was  giving  Dick  and  Sybil  a  treat  as  well 
as  herself  ;  and  at  starting  it  was  arranged  that  she 
should  keep  the  money,  having  laid  out  the  first 
shilling  on  a  smart  little  blue  purse,  but  it  proved 
such  an  anxious  charge,  being  lost  twice  on  the  way 
to  the  station,  that  they  agreed  that  Dick  had  better 
undertake  it. 

It  was  a  beautiful  day,  and  the  children  were  so 
happy  and  so  gay  that  Dick  could  not  brood  over 
his  troubles  as  he  had  done  of  late,  but  found  himself 
laughing  almost  like  old  times,  and  wondered  how 
he  could  be  so  cheerful  when  he  had  said  good-bye 
to  Kathie  for  ever. 

They  got  down  to  Sandyshore  by  six,  and  had  din- 
ner at  a  little  round  table  in  a  large  bow  window  at 
the  principal  hotel,  looking  out  on  a  dancing  bright 
green  sea,  studded  with  boats  and  yachts  and  fishing 
smacks,  and  more  distant  steamers,  while  in  the  fore- 
ground was  the  esplanade,  with  a  band  playing,  and 
carriages  driving  past,  and  parties  of  ladies  on  horse- 
back cantering  by,  and  just  across  the  road  was  a 
stand  of  patient,  subdued  donkeys  with  scarlet-bound 
saddle-cloths,  and  wicked-looking  goats  chewing  the 
cud,  and  surveying  the  crowd  with  evil,  glassy,  yel- 
low eyes. 


LE  rry's  BIR  THDA  Y.  2  03 

Sybil  and  Letty  were  so  excited  by  the  gay  pros- 
pect, so  different  from  that  at  Ricketts',  or  even  the 
Tysoes',  that  they  could  scarcely  eat  their  dinner, 
though  Letty  herself  had  chosen  it,  trying  to  combine 
everything  she  had  ever  heard  Dick  say  that  he 
liked. 

And  after  dinner  they  went  out  and  walked  along 
the  esplanade  till  they  had  got  away  from  most  of 
the  crowd,  and  could  only  hear  snatches  of  the  music 
now  and  then.  The  sun  had  set,  and  the  gold  and 
crimson  was  dying  into  orange  and  brown,  and  a 
little  dainty  crescent  moon  was  asserting  her  right 
to  govern  the  night,  though  she  was  not  strong 
enough  to  draw  a  thread  of  light  across  the  purple  sea. 
The  tide  was  going  down,  and  the  cool  air  was  laden 
with  the  refreshing  smell  of  the  seaweed  on  the  un- 
covered rocks.  It  was  too  dark  to  explore  those 
slippery  promontories  and  tempting  pools,  so  the  chil- 
dren contented  themselves  with  popping  the  brown 
pods  of  the  seaweed  on  the  break-water,  where  Dick 
sat  smoking  a  really  good  cigar,  of  which  Letty  had 
insisted  on  laying  in  a  store  before  they  left  the 
neighborhood  of  the  shops,  as  well  as  chocolates  and 
sugared  almonds  for  herself  and  Sybil. 

It  was  very  soothing  and  very  refreshing,  and  the 


204  TIP   CAT. 

soft  wash  and  splash  of  the  little  waves  on  the  rocks 
whispered  hope  to  a  heart  that  was  too  young  to  de- 
spair, and  Dick  found  himself  thinking,  "  Ah,  perhaps, 
some  day — "  instead  of  "  Never  again  !  never  again  !" 


AN  UNEXPECTED  MEETING.  205 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

AN  UNEXPECTED  MEETING. 

SUNDAY  passed  entirely  to  the  children's  satisfac- 
tion, but  much  too  fast,  and  Monday  dawned  as 
bright  a  day  as  the  most  exacting  Bank-holiday-maker 
could  possibly  desire,  the  sky  one  stretch  of  vivid 
blue,  the  sea  of  sparkling  silver. 

Dick  went  out  for  a  bathe  before  breakfast,  and 
came  .back  looking  as  if  the  sea  had  washed  the 
price  of  meat  and  quartern  loaves  out  of  his  head,  to 
find  the  little  girls  peeping  out  of  the  coffee-room 
window  impatient  for  his  return,  having  made  great 
friends  with  one  of  the  waiters,  and  ordered  break- 
fast at  the  same  table  at  which  they  had  dined  on 
Saturday  evening.  They  were  obliged  to  make- 
haste  over  breakfast,  as  they  had  sent  across  to 
engage  donkeys  immediately  -afterwards,  as  the 
waiter  had  told  them  that,  when  once  the  excursion 


206  TIP  CAT. 

trains  began  to  arrive,  they  would  not  have  a  chance 
of  a  donkey,  and  they  were  very  particular  in  their 
selection,  both  of  donkeys  and  boys. 

They  went  for  an  hour's  ride  along  the  sands,  and 
might  have  gone  much  further  in  the  time  if  they 
would  have  allowed  the  stick  to  have  been  more 
freely  applied.  Then  they  devoted  themselves  to 
digging  and  castle-building  and  shell-finding  and 
paddling  about  the  rocks,  and  finished  a  most  delight- 
ful morning  by  a  row  in  a  boat  with  Dick  out  beyond 
the  end  of  the  pier.  Then  came  dinner,  and,  after 
that,  as  their  train  did  not  start  till  four,  there  would 
still  be  two  delightful  hours  to  go  and  see  how 
their  castle  had  withstood  the  encroachments  of  the 
tide. 

"  Oh,  Dick  !  "  Letty  said,  as  she  capered  along 
at  his  side,  "  I  don't  think  ever  any  one  had  such  a 
delightful  birthday  !  " 

Their  fortifications  had  been  constructed  on  the 
beach  near  where  they  had  been  sitting  on  Saturday 
evening,  beyond  the  extremest  limit  of  the  esplanade, 
which  at  Sandyshore  stretches  out  to  more  than  a 
mile  of  terraces  and  rows  of  green-shuttered  houses. 
Osnaburgh  Terrace  is  the  last  row  of  houses  on  the 
esplanade,  but  beyond  this  some  adventurous  builder 


AN  UNEXPECTED  MEETING.  2O? 

had  run  up  two  or  three  detached  villas  of  pale  yel- 
low, half-baked-looking  brick,  only  divided  from  the 
beach  by  a  little  bit  of  sandy  garden  and  unpainted 
iron  railings.  Two  of  these  desirable  residences 
were  to  let,  as  declared  by  a  large  board  in  the 
garden  and  bills  in  each  of  the  windows  ;  but  the 
third  and  furthest  from  the  town  seemed  to  be  in- 
habited, for  Dick  had  noticed  in  the  morning  a 
brougham  standing  a  long  time  at  the  door  on  the 
road,  which  approached  the  house  from  the  back. 
Now  a  light  invalid  carriage  was  in  the  garden,  and 
soon  after  Dick  had  taken  up  his  seat  on  the  break- 
water, and  while  Letty  and  Sybil  were  hard  at  work 
building  up  the  walls  of  their  fortress,  which  had 
already  begun  to  yield  to  the  assaults  of  the  creamy, 
incoming  waves,  a  child  was  carried  out  of  the  house 
and  laid  in  the  carriage  —  a  child  wrapped  and 
swaddled  up  as  if  a  breath  of  the  sweet,  strong  sea- 
air  might  be  too  much  for  her,  and  laid  so  tenderly 
on  soft  cushions,  and  the  carriage  moved  so  carefully, 
as  if  a  sudden  jerk  or  jar  might  shatter  the  fragile 
little  frame. 

It  was  evidently  a  trained  nurse  who  carried  the 
poor  little  invalid  so  skilfully,  and  that  could  be  none 
other  than  the  mother  who  fussed  and  fidgeted  be- 


2o8  TIP  CAT. 

hind,  scolding  the  clumsy  but  well-meaning  nurse- 
girl  who  was  to  draw  the  chair,  in  tones  that  some- 
how sounded  familiar  to  Dick  as  he  listened. 

His  attention  was  called  away  just  then  to  the 
children,  who  wanted  his  help  to  finish  the  bridge 
between  their  castle  and  the  breakwater,  and  when 
he  returned  to  his  seat  the  little  carriage  had  been 
brought  over  the  rough  sand  heaps  at  the  top  of  the 
beach,  and  now,  having  gained  the  level,  was  being 
pulled  slowly  along  the  sand  only  a  few  yards  away 
from  him,  with  the  anxious  mother  guiding  and 
steadying  the  carriage  from  behind.  No  wonder 
that  her  tones  had  been  familiar  in  Dick's  ear, 
especially  in  the  act  of  scolding,  for  it  was  Aunt 
Maria. 

Dick  gave  a  start  and  suppressed  exclamation  of 
recognition,  which  was  echoed  by  Aunt  Maria  ;  but, 
it  was  the  child  who  spoke  first,  crying  in  a  thin", 
weak  little  voice,  half-stifled  in  pillows  and  wraps, 
"  Dick  !  Dick  !  it  is  cousin  Dick,  mamma." 

He  never  would  have  recognised  Ellen  in  that  wan, 
drawn  little  face,  with  great  eager  eyes  and  close- 
cropped  hair  and  sunken  temples,  and  lips  drawn 
tightly  across  the  teeth.  .  But  Ellen  it  was,  and  Dick's 
heart  gave  a  great  bound  of  pity  as  he  glanced  from 


AN  UNEXPECTED  MEETING.  209 

her  to  Letty  and  Sybil  —  such  sunburnt,  happy, 
healthy  little  creatures,  standing  barefooted  and 
laughing,  clinging  together  on  their  castle,  while  the 
water  creamed  up  round  their  little  pink  feet. 

Aunt  Maria  made  a  step  back  from  Dick's  out- 
stretched hand,  and  gave  a  movement  as  if  to  wave 
him  away  ;  but  Dick,  who  set  it  down  to  her  recollec- 
tion of  their  last  parting,  was  not  to  be  repulsed,  and 
took  her  hand  and  bent  to  kiss  her  cheek,  which  surely 
had  grown  wonderfully  old  and  furrowed  since  last 
they  met.  As  for  him,  any  feeling  of  resentment  that 
might  have  lurked  anywhere  in  his  inmost  heart  (and 
I  hardly  believe  any  remained),  vanished  at  the  sight 
of  Ellen's  death-stricken  face,  and  the  miserable 
agony  of  anxiety  in  her  mother's. 

But  Aunt  Maria  was  strangely  ungracious  still. 
"  Don't  !  "  she  said,  almost  flinging  Dick's  hand  from 
her.  "  You'd  better  go  and  take  the  children  away. 
Oh  !  merciful  heaven  !  how  well  and  strong  they 
look  !  For  pity's  sake  take  them  away." 

What  could  she  mean  ?  Dick  drew  back  a  minute, 
puzzled  and  wounded  ;  but  Ellen's  little  feeble  voice 
recalled  him. 

"  Dick,"  she  said,  "  don't  go  away.  Dick  was 
always  kind  to  me." 


2io  TIP  CAT. 

"  Yes,  my  darling,  yes.  Dick  shall  stay.  Oh, 
what  shall  I  do  ? "  cried  the  poor  woman.  "  She 
has  hardly  taken  any  notice  of  any  one  before,  and 
she  looks  so  much  brighter  now.  The  doctor  said 
it  would  do  her  good  to  be  out  in  the  air,  but  I  think 
it  was  seeing  you  did  it.  Yes,  she  has  been  very  ill, 
and  so  is  Grace  ;  but  Ellen  is  getting  better,  much 
better,"  she  said,  looking  into  Dick's  face  with  that 
hungry  longing  for  assent,  that  insistence  of  poor  souls 
who  do  not  believe  what  they  say  themselves,  and 
yet  would  try  to  force  it  on  others.  "  But  Grace  is 
very  bad  ;  we  are  very  anxious  about  her,  and — oh  !" 
she  exclaimed,  turning  to  the  house,  where  a  signal 
was  being  given  from  the  bedroom  window,  "  she 
wants  me ;  I  must  go.  She  must  be  worse.  Oh, 
Dick,  stay  with  Ellen.  I  won't  be  long ;  I  will  be 
back  in  a  minute.  Don't  let  the  children  go  near 
her." 

"They  shall  not  disturb  her,"  Dick  said,  rather 
resenting  the  insinuation  that  little  gentle  Letty  or 
Sybil  could  be  rough  or  noisy  with  the  sick  child,  and 
Aunt  Maria  hastened  away  to  the  house. 

Letty  and  Sybil  had  become  aware  by  this  time 
that  Dick  was  talking  to  some  one,  and  now  came 
up  to  the  chair,  standing  with  their  tucked-up  frocks 


AN  UNEXPECTED  MEE TING.  211 

and  bare  feet,  and  with  spades  in  their  hands,  looking 
with  large,  round  eyes  of  wonder  at  the  child  whom 
they  could  hardly  believe  to  be  the  cousin  Ellen  with 
whom  they  used  to  play  and  quarrel,  and  who  had 
slapped  them,  and  been  slapped  in  return.  But 
Ellen  took  hardly  any  notice  of  them,  or  of  the  bright- 
colored  pebbles  and  shells  and  seaweed  which  they 
had  collected,  and  the  best  of  which  they  laid  on  the 
edge  of  the  carriage  as  an  offering  to  her ;  but  it 
was  Dick's  name  she  kept  murmuring,  and  Dick  that 
her  great  eyes  followed ;  and  when  for  a  moment  he 
was  out  of  sight  she  broke  into  a  little,  fretful,  wail- 
ing cry  ;  and  when  he  laid  his  hand  near  hers,  her 
weak  nerveless  fingers  closed  round  his,  and  would 
not  let  him  go. 

The  nursemaid  seemed  a  stupid,  dull  sort  of  girl, 
and  in  answer  to  Dick's  questions  only  grinned  and 
scraped  a  heap  of  sand  with  her  clumsy  feet. 

They  must  have  been  there  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
and  Dick  was  still  holding  the  child's  hand  and  say- 
ing at  intervals,  "  Poor  little  Ellen — poor  child  !  " 
when  a  gentleman,  passing  along  the  top  of  the 
beach,  stopped  and  looked  at  them.  He  looked  like 
a  doctor,  and  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry,  but  he  turned 
and  came  down  the  beach  towards  them. 


212  TIP  CAT. 

"  I  suppose  you  know,"  he  said  to  Dick,  "  that 
this  little  girl  has  had  scarlet  fever,  and  that  her 
sister  is  lying  ill  of  it  now  in  that  house  ?  You 
should  not  let  those  children  be  with  her.  It  is  so 
terribly  infectious." 

And  then  he  hurried  away,  leaving  Dick  hardly 
taking  in  the  full  meaning  of  what  he  had  said  for 
the  first  minute.  He  had  fortunately  never  been 
much  in  the  way  of  illness,  especially  infectious  ill- 
ness ;  but,  of  course,  he  knew  that  scarlet  fever  was 
infectious,  and  that  it  meant  danger  for  Letty  and 
Sybil ;  and,  drawing  away  his  hand  from  Ellen's,  his 
first  impulse  was  to  catch  his  two  little  sisters  up  in 
his  arnjs  and  hurry  away  as  quickly  as  possible,  but 
Ellen's  weak,  wailing  cry  began  directly  he  turned 
away,  and  he  could  not  find  it  in  his  heart  to  leave 
her. 

What  could  he  do  ?  He  called  the  children  to 
some  distance  from  the  carriage,  and  bid  them  put 
on  their  shoes  and  stockings  as  quick  as  they  could. 

"It's  not  time  to  go  yet,"  pleaded  Letty;  "and 
we  did  so  want  to  see  the  waves  knock  down  our 
bridge." 

"  I  want  you  to  do  something  for  brother  Dick's 
sake,"  he  said,  and  his  voice  was  so  grave  that  Letty 


AN  UNEXPECTED  MEETING.  213 

said  no  more,  but  began  that  difficult  task  of  pulling 
stockings  on  wet  feet  as  quickly  as  she  could. 

"  I  want  you  and  Sybil  to  go  steadily  along  the 
esplanade,  past  the  hotel  and  the  pier,  and  straight 
to  the  railway  station.  You  know  where  it  is,  don't 
you  ?  And  go  into  the  waiting-room  and  stay  there 
till  I  come.  My  darlings,  I  am  so  sorry,  but  it  can't 
be  helped." 

"  May  we  say  good-by  to  Ellen  ?  " 

"  No,  no !  "  he  said,  with  a  shudder.  "  I  will  say 
it  for  you.  I  want  you  to  go  directly." 

He  stood  watching  the  two  little  backs  as  they 
plodded  rather  drearily  away  hand-in-hand  along  the 
beach.  He  was  almost  afraid  that  Sybil  was  cry- 
ing, and  he  had  seen  Letty's  lip  tremble  as  they 
turned  to  go  ;  but  the  cry  of  "  Dick,  where  are  you 
gone?"  from  the  carriage  called  him  back  and  he 
took  up  his  place  again  by  Ellen's  side.  Every 
moment  that  he  sat  there  he  realised  more  fully  the 
danger  that  the  children  had  run,  and  felt  more  in- 
dignant at  Aunt  Maria  for  exposing  them  to  such  a 
risk;  blaming  himself  all  the  time  for  not  being 
quicker  to  guess  that  it  was  fever  that  had  made 
such  a  wreck  of  his  little  cousin. 

It  seemed  to  him  a  long  time  that  he  sat  there, 


214  TIP  CAT, 

but  it  was  really  only  a  few  minutes,  when  Aunt 
Maria  appeared  again  from  the  house,  and  Dick 
rose  to  meet  her  with  a  world  of  reproach  in  his  face. 

But  she  had  no  eyes  but  for  the  child.  "  We 
must  bring  her  in  at  once,"  she  said.  "  She  has 
been  out  too  long." 

Dick  drew  back.  How  could  she  be  so  selfish, 
even  in  her  great  trouble  ?  But,  as  they  began  to 
move  the  carriage,  the  clumsiness  of  the  servant  and 
the  over-anxiety  of  the  mother  made  it  shake  and 
rock,  and  a  moan  of  suffering  from  the  child  called 
him  back. 

"  Let  me  do  it,"  he  said  ;  "  I  will  steady  it."  And 
he  took  the  carriage  carefully  up  the  beach,  and 
when  they  reached  the  house  he  lifted  the  poor,  little 
light  figure  from  the  carriage  and  carried  her  into 
the  house  in  his  strong  arms. 

The  child  seemed  only  half  conscious  by  this 
time,  but  she  murmured  his  name,  as  he  put  her  into 
the  nurse's  arms,  as  if  she  would  have  thanked  him. 

He  got  no  other  thanks.  Aunt  Maria  was  hurry- 
ing by  him  as  he  went  out  into  the  passage,  without 
even  saying  good-by  ;  but  he  stopped  her. 

"  You  should  have  told  me  "  he  said.  "  You 
should  have  warned  me  of  the  infection." 


AN  UNEXPECTED  MEETING.  215 

"  I  didn't  know  you  would  be  afraid,"  she  an- 
swered. 

"  It  was  not  for  myself,"  he  went  on :  "  but  I  have 
nothing  in  the  world  left  me  but  Sybil  and  Letty,  and 
if  any  harm  happened  to  them  I  could  never  forgive 
you." 

"  Don't  be  hard  on  me,  Dick,"  she  said,  in  a  strange, 
hard,  shrill  voice.  "  Don't  be  hard.  Grace  is  dy- 
ing— my  last  baby,  you  know,  Dick,  my  pretty  little 
Grace." 

And  then  she  was  gone,  and  Dick  passed  out  into 
the  August  sunshine  from  the  dark  passage,  which 
seemed  the  very  shadow  of  death. 

He  had  half  an  hour  before  the  train,  and  that 
must  be  devoted  to  disinfecting  as  well  as  he  knew 
how.  How  he  wished  he  had  paid  more  attention  to 
the  subject — attended  ambulance  lectures,  or  listened 
when  scientific  friends  held  forth  ;  but  he  had  only 
his  own  reason  to  guide  him,  and  that  led  him  to 
walk  quickly  along  the  beach  where  the  sea-breeze 
blew  freshest,  and,  when  he  was  some  way  from  the 
esplanade,  take  off  his  coat  and  wash  face  and  hands 
in  the  sea-water.  This  was  all  he  could  think  of  or 
had  time  to  do,  for  he  had  yet  to  pay  the  hotel  bill, 
and  fetch  their  bags  and  get  to  the  station,  to  relieve 


2l6  TIP  CAT. 

the  anxiety  of  the  two  little  sisters,  who  were  watch- 
ing for  him  from  the  waiting-room  door,  getting  more 
and  more  large-eyed  and  terrified  as  the  people  began 
to  collect  and  crowd  the  station. 

They  flew  to  meet  Dick  as  soon  as  they  caught  a 
glimpse  of  him,  but  he  would  not  let  them  touch  him 
even  now,  but  put  them  into  a  carriage  with  some 
ladies,  and  he  himself  got  into  a  smoking  carriage, 
and  stoically  endured  fumes  of  bad  tobacco  and  con- 
versation to  match,  till  they  reached  the  station  for 
Slowmill ;  and  then  again  he  put  them  into  a  fly  and 
mounted  himself  on  the  box,  and  only  allowed  him- 
self to  feel  fit  to  touch  them  when  they  reached  the 
Ricketts',  and  he  lifted  Sybil  out  fast  asleep  and 
carried  her  in,  even  then  feeling  a  qualm  as  he  thought 
of  the  last  child  he  had  carried,  and  how  Ellen's  head 
had  rested  on  his  arm  just  where  Sybil's  lay. 

"  What  a  fidgety  old  hen  I  am  getting,"  he  told 
himself,  "  with  my  two  little  chicks." 


"  TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE."     217 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

"TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE." 

IT  had  been  a  wet  day,  but  the  weather  was  clear- 
ing towards  the  evening,  and  the  heavy  grey  clouds 
were  rolling  away  into  the  west,  burying  the  sunset 
in  their  great,  soft  masses,  but  leaving  a  clear,  pearly 
reach  of  sky  in  the  east,  with  just  a  tinge  of  pink 
from  the  invisible  sunset. 

There  had  been  a  good  deal  of  rain  that  week  since 
Bank-holiday,  which  had  mterfered  considerably  with 
harvest  operations  in  various  parts  of  the  country  ; 
but  as  most  of  the  land  round  Slowmill  was  pasture, 
the  farmers  did  not  much  care,  though,  of  course, 
they  grumbled  quite  as  much  as  if  all  their  hopes 
were  centred  on  the  wheat. 

Tip  Cat  had  come  out  to  stretch  himself  that  even- 
ing, and  was  leaning  on  the  low  wall  in  front  of  the 
house,  with  Kaiser  as  usual  by  his  side.  That  week's 


218  TIP  CAT. 

I 

rain  had  put  an  end  to  the  summer,  which  had  held 
her  own  bravely  till  then,  but  now  autumn  reigned  in 
her  stead,  and  had  laid  his  Midas  hand  already  on 
the  chestnuts  here  and  there,  turning  them  to  gold. 

Tip  Cat's  thoughts  as  he  stood  there  were 
carried  back  more  than  five-and-twenty  years,  to  a 
garden  with  a  great  horse-chestnut  tree,  standing  on 
a  lawn  which  it  littered  with  its  bright  yellow  leaves, 
while  it  filled  with  mock  sunshine  the  bow  windows 
of  a  pretty  country  house. 

It  was  the  vicarage  house  where  he  had  been  a 
pupil  before  he  went  to  Oxford,  and  under  the  chest- 
nut, before  his  mind's  eye,  stood  Letty  Vane,  the 
vicar's  only  daughter,  holding  a  great  yellow  fan-leaf 
in  her  hand  as  she  talked  to  him.  They  were  great 
friends,  though  he  was  only  a  great  clumsy  hob- 
bledehoy, and  she  all  that  was  beautiful  and  grace- 
ful and  fair. 

She  had  come  out  into  the  garden  to  find  him,  to 
ask  him  to  do  her  some  trifling  service — to  post  a 
letter  or  cut  a  pencil — so  small  that  he  had  forgotten 
what  it  was. 

"  I  always  come  to  you  when  I  want  anything  done," 
she  said,  "  dear  old  Tip  Cat ;  I  don't  know  what  I 
shall  do  without  you." 


"TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE."     219 

And  then  he  had  stammered  out  something  about 
being  always  ready  to  do  anything  she  wanted. 

"  Shall  you  ?  "  she  asked  with  a  smile  and  a  little 
sigh,  as  if  with  a  presentiment  of  coming  trouble. 
"  But  what  if  you  are  at  the  other  end  of  the  world  ?  " 

"  I  would  come,"  he  answered,  "  if  you  wanted  me, 
even  from  another  world." 

"  Silly  boy,"  she  said,  and  stroked  his  cheek  with 
the  chestnut  leaf,  till  he  caught  her  hand  in  his. 

"Will  you  promise,"  he  asked,  "  that  you  will  al- 
ways come  to  me  if  you  want  anything  done,  or  are 
in  any  difficulty  or  trouble  ? " 

"  Of  course  I  will,"  she  answered.  "  I  shall  come, 
perhaps  when  you  least  expect  it,  and  say,  '  Tip  Cat, 
remember  your  promise." 

It  was  more  than  half  a  joke,  and  it  ended  in  a 
laugh  and  a  race  across  the  garden  to  the  filbert 
walk,  and  a  merry  cracking  of  nuts  and  talking  non- 
sense, but  under  it  all  there  was  a  seriousness  and  a 
meaning  which  they  both  of  them  felt  and  remem- 
bered. 

Years  had  passed*  since  then,  and  Letty  had 
married,  and  gone  to  India  and  died,  and  had  never 
reminded  him  of  his  promise.  She  had  not  been 
false  to  him,  though  she  had  spoilt  his  life,  for  she 


220  'TIP  CAT. 

had  never  thought  of  him  but  as  a  boy  and  a  brother 
while  he  had  loved  her  with  the  strong  lasting  love 
of  a  man.  In  the  long  years  of  gnawing  regret  and 
weary  longing  that  had  followed,  he  had  sometimes 
thought  that  if  he  could  have  done  something,  suf- 
fered something,  comforted  or  helped  her  in  any  way 
he  could  have  endured  the  loss  better,  but  all  possi- 
bility of  this  was  at  an  end,  for  she  was  in  her  grave, 
and  needed  no  help  or  comfort  from  him.  How 
vividly  that  scene  in  the  vicarage  garden  came  back 
to  him  that  evening !  That  soft  sighing  of  the  trees 
might  be  her  voice,  that  leaf,  that  came  fluttering 
down,  might  have  dropped  from  her  hand,  if  he 
closed  his  eyes  he  could  fancy  she  was  at  his  side, 
saying,  "Tip  Cat,  remember  your  promise." 

But  as  he  stood  with  closed  eyes  picturing  that 
scene,  some  one  was,  indeed,  standing  close  by  him, 
some  one,  whose  footsteps  he  had  not  heard,  though 
they  were  not  as  light  and  buoyant  as  they  used  to 
be,  some  one  looking  up  at  him  with  great  sad  eyes, 
some  one,  as  strange  chance  would  have  it,  with  a 
big  chestnut  fan-leaf  in  her  hand. 

Could  it  be  Letty  Vane  come  from  another  world 
to  claim  his  promise  ?  Tip  Cat  wondered  for  a  mo- 
ment, as  he  opened  his  eyes  and  looked  down  into 


"•TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE:'   221 

a  face  so  strangely  like  his  dead  love's,  and  heard  a 
voice  with  the  same  soft  tone  say,  "  Tip  Cat,  we're 
in  such  trouble."  And  then  he  knew  that  she*had 
sent  her  little  girl  to  claim  his  promise. 

"  We're  in  such  trouble,  Tip  Cat !  Sybil  is  ill? 
and  Dick  can't  go  to  the  office,  so  he  won't  have 
no  money  on  Saturday,  and  he  wants  to  send  me 
away  to  Uncle  Tom,  and  I  can't  go  away  and  leave 
him,  and  Sybil  ill " 

"  What's  the  matter  with  her  ?  " 

"  Dick  says  it's  scarlet  fever,  and  he's  sent  for  the 
doctor  but  he  hasn't  come,  and  her  head's  awful  bad, 
and  so  is  her  throat,  and  sometimes  she  don't  know 
me  and  thinks  I'm  somebody  else.  Tip  Cat,"  Letty 
whispered,  clinging  to  his  arm  which  was  round  her, 
".do  you  think  Sybil  is  going  to  die  ?  You  won't  let 
her,  will  you  ?  I  can't  do  without  her,  and  she's  so 
little,  you  know,  too  little  to  die." 

Tip  Cat  held  the  trembling  little  thing  close  in 
his  great,  strong  arms,  as  if  he  would  protect  her  by 
main  force  from  trouble  or  from  death  itself. 

"  Who  is  with  her  ?  " 

"  Only  Dick.  Mrs.  Ricketts  is  bad  with  the  rheu- 
matics, and  she  can't  do  nothing  hardly,  and  she 
cries  and  shakes  her  head  when  I  speak  to  her,  and 


222  TIP  CAT. 

Ricketts  is  afraid  that  the  people  at  the  mill  will 
find  out  that  she's  ill,  and  not  let  him  go  to  his  work, 
and  he  wanted  Dick  not  to  send  for  the  doctor,  as 
he  says  they  make  such  a  fuss  nowadays  about  things 
being  catching,  and  Dick  thinks  that  perhaps  he  did 
not  give  his  message,  as  Dr.  Lee  hasn't  come  all 
day." 

"  We'll  go  and  fetch  him,"  said  Tip  Cat.  While 
Letty  had  been  talking  his  mind  had  been  busy 
forming  a  plan  of  action,  and,  once  formed,  he  was 
not  slow  to  carry  it  out.  Five  minutes  were  enough 
to  harness  the  quick-trotting  bay  mare  into  the  dog- 
cart, principally  with  his  own  hands,  while  he  gave 
some  clear,  sharp,  precise  directions  to  the  corporal, 
which  made  that  old  soldier  open  his  eyes  in  amaze- 
ment, though  he  was  far  too  well  disciplined  to  say 
a  word  or  do  anything  but  obey. 

Letty,  not  being  so  well  drilled,  altogether  refused 
to  stay  with  the  corporal,  as  Tip  Cat  at  first  pro-' 
posed,  and  broke  into  such  an  agony  of  tears  and 
sobs  that  Tip  Cat  lifted  her  himself  into  the  dog-cart 
and  wrapped  her  up  in  a  plaid,  for  night  was  coming 
on  and  the  air  was  damp  and  chill,  and  drove 
off  without  another  word,  rattling  along  the  road 
and  over  the  stony  streets  of  Slowmill  at  a  pace 


"  TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE."  223 

that  made  the  people  run  to  their  doors  and 
windows  to  see  who  it  could  be  in  such  a  desperate 
hurry. 

Dr.  Lee  had  just  sat  down  to  supper  after  a  long 
round  among  some  of  his  more  out-lying  patients. 
He  had  got  very  wet,  and,  having  put  on  his  slippers, 
was  not  much  inclined  to  sally  forth  again,  even 
though  old  Ricketts  had  been  better  than  Dick  sus- 
pected, and  had  delivered  the  message,  but  in  such 
a  modified  and  guarded  manner  that  Dr.  Lee  con- 
cluded that  it  would  be  quite  time  enough  to  gcrand 
see  the  patient  next  morning.  But  when  Tip  Cat 
arrived,  and  with  a  certain  accent  of  command  in  his 
voice,  and  a  still  more  decided  look  of  the  same  in 
his  strange  light  eyes,  desired  him  to  go  without  a 
moment's  delay,  Dr.  Lee  called  for  his  boots  forth- 
with, and  left  his  supper  unfinished,  and  climbed  as 
briskly  into  the  dog-cart  by  Tip  Cat's  side  as  if  he 
had  had  no  thought  of  any  other  way  of  passing  the 
evening. 

He  had  met  Tip  Cat  once  or  twice  in  the  hunting- 
field,  and  had  heard  a  lot  of  gossip  about  him  from 
one  and  another,  but  this  was  the  first  lime  he  had 
ever  spoken  to  him,  and  he  felt  he  was  too  good  a 
patient  to  allow  to  fall  into  any  other  doctor's 


224  TIP  CAT. 

clutches,  and  that  it  was  quite  worth  while  to  oblige 
him,  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  supper  and  night's 
rest. 

"  Hullo  !  who's  this  ?  "  he  asked,  as  what  looked 
like  a  bundle  of  wraps  at  Tip  Cat's  side  moved  and 
a  face  looked  out  at  him. 

"  It  is  the  other  little  girl,"  said  Tip  Cat,  "  and  I 
wanted  to  ask  you  what  we  had  better  do  about  send- 
ing her  away." 

"  Not  much  good  now,"  was  the  reply.  "  Should 
have  been  done  a  week  ago  from  what  you  tell  me. 
It's  too  dark  to  have  a  look  at  her.  Give  me  your 
hand,  little  woman,  if  you  have  such  a  thing  about 
you  under  all  these  wraps.  There,  there  !  never 
mind,  we  won't  take  you  away  from  brother  Dick  and 
little  sister,  never  fear  ! " 

And  then  Letty,  quite  contented,  nestled  her  face 
against  Tip  Cat's  sleeve  and  dozed,  only  indistinctly 
hearing  the  men's  voices  going  on  above  her  head, 
and  not  heeding  what  they  said. 

Can  you  fancy,  reader,  what  the  past  week  had 
been  to  Dick  ?  How,  the  morning  after  their  return, 
when  the  children  had  seemed  as  bright  and  well  as 
ever,  he  had  laughed  at  his  own  fidgets  and  fears  of 
the  night  before  ;  how,  a  day  or  two  later,  he  had 


"  TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE."  22$ 

been  quite  cross  with  himself  for  fancying  that  Sybil 
was  pale,  and  told  himself  that  if  she  were  not  quite 
as  rosy  as  usual  it  was  the  effect  of  the  wet  weather, 
which  had  prevented  them  from  going  out.  No 
doubt  it  was  from  the  same  cause  that  she  was  a  little 
bit  cross  the  next  morning,  and  peevish,  and  cried 
when  Letty  accidentally  pushed  against  her ;  but 
when  he  came  home  in  the  evening,  and  only  Letty 
ran  down  the  wet  garden  path  to  meet  him,  his  heart 
sank  as  he  heard  that  Sybil  had  been  very  sick,  and 
was  asleep  on  the  bed.  "  It's  biliousness,"  Mrs. 
Ricketts  said,  "  and  she'll  be  all  the  better  to-morrow." 
But  in  the  night  when  Dick  went  in  once  or  twice  to 
see  how  she  was,  the  child  was  tossing  and  turning 
and  talking  in  her  sleep,  and  was  hot  and  flushed 
and  restless.  She  seemed  better  in  the  morning, 
but  Dick  went  to  the  office  with  a  very  heavy  heart, 
and  annoyed  Mr.  Burgess  by  his  inattention  and  care- 
lessness. 

He  found  Sybil,  when  he  got  home,  sitting  on  the 
three-legged  stool  in  front  of  the  fire,  resting  such  a 
heavy  little  head  on  Mrs.  Ricketts's  knee  !  and  found 
she  had  eaten  nothing  all  day,  but  was  thirsty  and 
parched.  Dick  sat  all  the  evening  holding  her  in 
his  arms,  and  put  her  into  his  bed  for  the  night,  and 


226  TIP  CAT. 

spent  most  of  that  leaning  over  her  and  listening  to 
her  difficult  breathing  and  wandering  talk.  Happily 
next  day  was  Sunday  and  he  was  not  obliged  to  leave 
her,  but  oh  !  how  long  that  day  seemed  ;  and  still 
longer  the  night  that  followed,  for  the  child  was  light- 
headed, and  talked  such  strange  baby-nonsense  as 
made  Dick's  heart  ache  again.  Would  the  morning 
never  come,  and  old  Ricketts  stop  snoring  in  the 
room  below,  and  begin  to  stir  to  go  off  to  his  work  ? 
— for  Dick  had  by  this  time  no  doubt  what  was  the 
matter,  and  knew  that  there  was  no  time  to  be  lost 
in  having  a  doctor,  and  that  he  ought  not  to  go  to 
Mr.  Burgess's,  even  if  he  could  bear  to  leave  Sybil, 
and  that  as  for  what  they  were  to  live  on  or  how  the 
doctor  was  to  be  paid,  it  must  be  left  to  the  future 
to  prove — it  was  no  use  thinking  of  that  now. 

And  then  came  Ricketts's  unwillingness  to  make 
the  illness  known,  and  his  wish  to  keep  it  dark,  lest 
the  inspector  should  be  down  on  them,  messing  about 
with  sulphur  and  lime  and  all  the  rest  of  it ;  and  not 
letting  a  chap  go  to  his  work  for  six  weeks  or  more, 
as  he  did  with  poor  Wilson  as  pretty  nigh  starved, 
along  of  him  and  his  whimsies.  He  tried  to  persuade 
Dick  the  child  was  better,  as  she  was  quiet  for  a  bit, 
lying  with  her  eyes  half  shut,  breathing  heavily  ;  but 


"•TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE."    227 

Dick  knew  better,  and  at  last  old  Ricketts  went  off 
grumbling,  with  a  note  from  Dick  to  be  left  at  the 
office,  and  a  message  to  Dr.  Lee,  which  Ricketts  did 
not  deliver  till  after  the  doctor  had  started  for  his 
rounds,  and  which,  when  it  reached  him,  would  not, 
as  we  have  seen,  have  disturbed  the  doctor  from  his 
supper,  if  it  had  not  been  for  Tip  Cat. 

Then  Dick  began  to  fret  and  worry  over  Letty, 
and  the  danger  to  her  of  slipping  in  and  out  of  the 
room,  and  sitting  at  the  foot  of  the  bed  watching 
Sybil's  every  movement,  ready  to  put  back  the  clothes 
the  fevered  child  kept  throwing  off,  or  to  give  her 
some  milk  when  the  dry  lips  moaned  for  something 
to  drink.  If  there  was  only  some  one  to  take  her 
up  to  Uncle  Tom  !  He  could  not  refuse  to  find 
shelter  and  care  somewhere  for  her ;  and  once  Dick 
counted  out  what  money  he  had  left,  and  told  Letty 
to  put  on  her  hat  and  take  it  to  Mrs.  Tysoe,  and  ask 
her  to  take  her  up  to  London  to  Uncle  Tom's  bank  ; 
but  Letty,  who  was  usually  so  obedient  and  submis- 
sive to  Dick's  slightest  wish,  rebelled  now,  and  cried 
and  sobbed  so  bitterly  that  Dick  was  obliged  to  give 
it  up,  only  keeping  her  as  much  out  of  the  bedroom 
as  he  could. 

As  the  day  wore  on,  and  no  doctor  came,  he  began 


228  TIPCAT. 

to  distrust  Ricketts  more  and  more,  and  when, 
towards  evening,  Letty  disappeared,  he  fancied  she 
might  have  gone  to  fetch  him,  and  was  divided 
between  anxiety  for  the  child  alone  in  the  roads  in 
the  dusk,  and  a  burning  desire  that  the  doctor  should 
come  by  any  means  before  night. 

Reader,  do  you  know  the  look  of  a  bedroom  in 
which  a  man  has  been  acting  as  nurse  ?  I  mean,  of 
course,  ninety-nine  men  out  of  a  hundred,  for  here 
and  there  you  may  find  a  first-rate  man-nurse,  who 
can  bear  comparison  with  the  best  of  the  woman- 
nurses.  They  may  be  loving  and  anxious,  tender  and 
strong,  patient  and  gentle,  but  they  are  sure  to  get 
the  room  into  a  hopeless  muddle,  as  Dick  had,  when 
Dr.  Lee  stood  at  the  door  with  Tip  Cat  looking  over 
his  shoulder. 

The  bedclothes  were  tumbled  and  tossed  in  utter 
discomfort,  the  bedstead,  which  had  never  stood 
quite  even  on  its  four  legs,  was  propped  at  one  cor- 
ner by  a  chair,  and  another  stood  near  heaped  with 
cups  and  plates,  and  the  candle-stick  with  a  tallow- 
candle  guttering  from  the  draught  from  the  door  and 
window.  A  heap  of  Sybil's  clothes  lay  on  the  ground 
near  the  window,  and  Dick  sat  on  the  bed  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  with  a  pillow  on  his  knees,  on  which 


"TIP  CAT,  REMEMBER  YOUR  PROMISE."  229 

the  child's  head  was  resting  for  a  minute  or  two  in  its 
restless,  feverish  tossing  and  turning. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  the  child  was  very  ill, 
but  it  was  Dick's  face  that  struck  Tip  Cat  most,  it 
looked  so  worn  and  haggard  and  old  and  full  of  care, 
and  Tip  Cat  turned  away  as  the  doctor  entered  the 
room  and  went  down  into  the  room  below  with  a 
bitter  feeling  of  self-reproach,  that  he  had  not  heard 
his  old  love's  voice  sooner,  reminding  him  of  his 
promise,  through  this  poor  young  son  of  hers,  and  his 
two  little  sisters,  who  had  sunk  to  greater  depths  of 
poverty  and  want  than  ever  he  had  dreamt  of  from 
the  merry  prattle  of  the  children,  who  had  talked  of 
poverty  as  a  bit  of  fun,  and  of  their  present  life  as 
superior  in  every  way  to  their  old  one. 


230  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

TO   THE   RESCUE. 

"  MOVE  her  ?  "  Dick  said,  in  answer  to  Dr.  Lee's 
words,  which  he  seemed  only  dimly  to  understand. 
"  Move  her  this  morning  ?  Is  it  to  the  hospital." 

It  was  morning,  and  Dr.  Lee  was  there  for  the  third 
time.  He  had  gone  away  after  his  first  visit,  and 
returned  in  an  hour,  bringing  medicine  and  a  few 
sick-room  comforts  for  the  child,  and  managing  with 
a  little  artful  arrangement,  to  introduce  some  order 
into  the  chaotic  room.  Then  he  had  gone  away 
again,  and  Sybil  must  have  slept ;  certainly  Dick  had, 
for  suddenly  Dr.  Lee  was  standing  there  again",  and 
saying  that  at  twelve  a  carriage  was  coming  to  move 
them  all  away. 

"  Tip  Cat  ?  What  had  he  to  do  with  it  ?  "  Dick  won- 
dered. He  fancied  he  had  caught  a  glimpse  of  some 
one  behind  Dr.  Lee  when  he  first  came,  but  after- 
wards he  thought  it  must  have  been  only  a  fancy,  for, 


TO  THE  RESCUE.  231 

with  watching  and  anxiety,  he  got  all  sorts  of  queer 
notions  into  his  head,  and  saw  sometimes  one  person, 
and  sometimes  another,  standing  in  the  little  room — 
now  Uncle  Tom,  broad  and  burly,  twisting  his  eye- 
glass in  his  hand  ;  now  Kathie,  fair  and  gentle,  to- 
wards whom  he  started  with  a  cry  of  warning  against 
the  danger  of  being  there. 

Dr.  Lee  looked  narrowly  at  the  dazed,  puzzled 
look  on  Dick's  face.  "  I  shall  have  another  patient," 
he  thought,  "  before  long,  and  it's  a  question  if  he 
will  be  number  two  or  three.  It's  not  a  hospital, 
exactly,"  he  said,  "  but  Mr  Cathcart — Tip  Cat,  they 
call  him — has  offered  his  house,  and  went  off  to 
Bristol  last  night  to  make  all  arrangements  and  to 
get  a  nurse  ;  and  he'll  send  a  regular  ambulance  by 
twelve  to  move  the  child." 

"  But  I  can't  let  him  do  it,"  Dick  interrupted. 
"  We  have  no  claim  on  him — I  hardly  know  him — " 

"  Do  you  want  the  child  to  die  ? " 

Dick's  head  sunk. 

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,"  the  doctor  said,  "  he's  the 
most  extraordinary  man  I  ever  came  across,  and  this 
is  the  biggest  piece  of  generosity  I  ever  heard  of, 
and  you'll  be  the  greatest  fool  in  the  world  if  you 
make  a  fuss  about  it.  It  was  the  luckiest  day  of 


232  TIP  CAT. 

your  life  when  you  came  to  Slowmill,  and  came  across 
Tip  Cat." 

And  Dick,  as  he  turned  back  to  Sybil,  wondered 
to  himself  how  what  had  seemed  such  trouble  and 
misfortune,  could  look  to  any  one  like  good  luck, 
but  he  offered  no  further  opposition  ;  and  when  the 
carriage  came  to  the  door,  he  obeyed  the  doctor's 
directions,  and  wrapped  the  child  up  in  blankets, 
and  carried  her  down  and  laid  her  on  the  cushions 
in  the  carriage,  and  got  in  after  her  with  Letty,  while 
Dr.  Lee  mounted  on  the  box  with  the  driver. 

Tip  Cat  did  not  appear  on  the  scene  at  all,  nor 
was  he  visible  when  they  arrived  at  Tipton  Farm, 
though  as  Kaiser's  shaggy  head  was  to  be  seen 
watching  the  arrival  from  one  of  the  windows,  it 
may  be  concluded  that  his  master  was  not  far  off. 

A  pleasant-faced,  cheerful  nurse  met  them  at  the 
door,  looking  delightfully  fresh  and  unfeverish  in  her 
print  dress  and  white  apron  and  cap,  and  took  the 
bundle  of  blankets  very  tenderly  in  her  arms  and 
carried  it  up  stairs  to  the  large,  airy  bedroom  in 
front,  which  used  to  be  empty  and  unfurnished,  and 
had  often  served  as  a  play-room  for  the  children  on 
a  wet  day,  but  was  now  turned  into  a  sick-room  that 
would  have  satisfied  the  most  exacting  of  doctors. 


TO  THE  RESCUE.  233 


Tip  Cat  would  dearly  have  liked  to  have  filled  the 
room  with  pretty  furniture  for  the  reception  of  his 
welcome  little  guests ;  but  his  own  common  sense 
and  the  doctor  had  told  him  that  the  less  furniture 
there  was  the  better  ;  so  there  were  no  curtains  nor 
carpet,  and,  besides  the  two  little  beds,  only  just 
what  was  immediately  necessary  for  use,  and  nothing 
for  ornament. 

Tip  Cat  consoled  himself  by  furnishing  Dick's 
room  adjoining,  with  every  comfort  modern  luxury 
has  invented,  though,  as  subsequent  events  proved, 
he  had  better  have  kept  to  the  same  severe  style  in 
both  rooms,  as  very  soon  those  curtains,  arm-chair, 
and  sofa  had  to  be  dispensed  with. 

Tip  Cat's  greatest  difficulty  had  been  about  the 
nurse,  for  he  would  have  one  quite  to  his  mind ;  and 
at  such  short  notice,  and  at  such  an  early  hour  in  the 
morning,  there  was  not  so  much  choice  as  in  the 
matter  of  chairs  and  bedsteads.  When  at  last  he 
found  one  to  please  him,  it  was  very  uncertain  if  the 
situation  would  please  her ;  and  when  she  reached 
Tipton  Farm  and  found  that  she  was  the  only  woman 
about  the  place,  she  had  half  a  mind  to  leave  at  once. 
But  Ridge  was  so  wonderfully  handy  and  attentive, 
and  Tip  Cat  ready,  at  the  least  suggestion  of  any- 


234  TIP   CAT. 

thing  wanting,  to  be  off  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or 
night  to  scour  the  country  to  procure  it,  sparing 
neither  money  nor  trouble,  so  that  Nurse  Esther  soon 
got  used  to  the  unusual  state  of  affairs,  and,  after  a 
time,  liked  it  so  well,  that  she  was  inclined  to  think 
that  households  composed  of  women  were  a  mistake. 

She  had  a  nice,  pleasant,  kind  face,  and  strong, 
young  arms,  and  a  gentle,  decided  way  of  doing  things, 
as  if  she  knew  what  she  was  about  and  meant  to  do 
it ;  and  Letty's  eyes  watched  her  longingly  as  she 
carried  Sybil  up  stairs,  and  she  followed  with  Dick 
and  saw  the  airy,  orderly  room — so  different  from 
Mrs.  Ricketts' — and  the  little  white  bed,  with  the 
cool,  fresh  pillows  and  bed  clothes,  ready  to  receive 
the  poor,  little,  feverish  body,  that  had  made  such  a 
hot,  tumbled  hay-cock  of  the  bed,  where  Dick's  lov- 
ing but  inexperienced  hands  could  not  restore  order 
or  comfort. 

But  when  the  door  closed  and  left  Dick  and  Letty 
outside  on  the  landing,  Letty's  full  little  heart  over- 
flowed into  bitter  sobs  and  tears.  "  Oh,  Dick,  mayn't 
I  be  ill,  too  ?  Oh,  Dick,  I'd  like  to  be  ill !  I'd  like 
to  be  ill,  too,  with  Syby  !  " 

Dick,  too,  was  feeling  very  forlorn,  as  if  his  work 
had  been  suddenly  whisked  away  out  of  his  hands 


TO  THE  RESCUE.  235 

and  he  did  not  know  what  to  be  at ;  but  he  gathered 
Letty  up  into  his  arms  and  sat  down  on  the  stairs 
and  tried  to  comfort  her,  telling  her  she  should  stop 
with  brother  Dick  and  not  think  of  being  ill ;  but  he 
seemed  to  have  lost  his  power  to  console  her,  and 
his  own  head  ached  so  that  every  sob  seemed  to  send 
a  hot  dart  through  his  temples,  and  he  only  at  last 
sat  holding  her  in  his  arms  in  silent  misery,  for  what- 
seemed  to  him  quite  a  long  time,  but  was  really  only 
a  few  minutes,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  door  re- 
opened and  the  nurse's  cheerful,  homely  voice  said. 

"  Where's  my  other  little  one  ?  The  doctor  said 
I  might  have  you  both.  Where's  my  little  Miss 
Letty  ?  " 

And  Letty's  sobs  stopped  as  if  by  magic,  and  her 
arms  left  Dick's  neck  and  stretched  towards  the 
nurse,  as  if  she  had  known  her  all  her  life. 

"  May  I  be  ill,  too,  with  Syby  ?  "  she  asked. 

And  the  nurse  answered  cheerfully,  "  To  be  sure 
you  may,  and  get  well  with  Syby,  too.  " 

But  Letty  did  not  forget  Dick,  for  as  she  went  in, 
clinging  round  Nurse  Esther's  waist  with  the  nurse's 
arm  round  her  neck,  Dick  heard  her  say,  "  But  mayn't 
Dick  come  too  ?  poor  Dick  !  and  be  ill  with  me  and 
Syby  ?  He  don't  never  like  to  be  away  from  us." 


236  TIP  CAT. 

"  Oh,  I  daresay  he  will  come  too  by  and  by  ;  never 
you  mind." 

And  then  the  door  closed  and  Dick  was  left  still 
sitting  on  the  stairs  outside  jesting  his  head  in  his 
hands,  feeling  as  if  he  had  not  energy  to  move  ox 
even  think. 

Here  Dr.  Lee  found  him  a  few  minutes  later  when 
he  came  up  stairs,  and  he  took  him  down  and  made 
him  eat  and  drink  something,  which  Dick  did  in  a 
listless,  mechanical  way,  doing  just  as  he  was  told, 
and  then  again  at  the  doctor's  suggestion,  he  went 
up  to  the  comfortable  bed-room  that  had  been  pre- 
pared for  him,  and,  hardly  noticing  the  comfort  of 
his  surroundings,  threw  himself  on  the  bed  and  fell 
into  a  heavy,  dreamless  sleep. 

He  must  have  slept  for  some  hours,  for  when  he 
woke  the  crimson,  level  rays  of  the  sunset  were  com- 
ing in  through  the  window  and  falling  full  on  a  pic- 
ture that  was  hung  over  the  bed,  and  Dick's  waking 
eyes  fixed  themselves  on  this  picture  with  a  strange 
sort  of  confused  wonder.  How  had  that  picture 
found  its  way  from  the  old  dressing  case  and  into 
that  wide  mounting  and  carved  ebony  frame  ?  It 
used  to  be  framed  with  pearls,  he  said  to  himself,  in 
the  dreamy  half-waking,  and  then  all  at  once  the  face, 


TO  THE  RESCUE.  237 

that  was  so  like  Letty's,  woke  him  with  a  start  to 
the  consciousness  of  the  present  and  of  Letty  and 
Sybil,  and  he  flung  himself  off  the  bed  and  stood 
looking  round,  giddy  and  confused,  listening  for  any 
sounds  from  the  next  room,  where  Letty  had  chosen 
to  be  "ill  too  with  Syby,"  and  quite  forgot  the 
strangeness,  that  over  the  bed  in  Tip  Cat's  room 
hung  the  portrait  of  his  own  young  mother,  smiling, 
in  all  her  girlish  grace  and  sweetness,  as  she  had 
smiled  from  the  circle  of  pearls  of  which  he  had  rob- 
bed her  for  the  little  ones'  sake. 

Some  one  must  have  been  into  the  room  while  he 
slept,  for  a  bath  had  been  prepared  for  him  and  clean 
linen  laid  out,  suggestive  of  old  times  when  Jenkins 
used  to  be  proud  to  valet  his  young  master,  and  Dick 
felt  more  like  his  old  self  when  he  had  bathed  and 
changed  his  clothes ;  and  just  as  he  was  ready,  the 
doctor  knocked  at  the  door  and  came  in. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "you  look  pounds  better  for  your 
nap.  I've  just  come  in  again  to  see  the  little  girls.  I 
don't  think  if  I  were  you  I  would  go  in  just  now  ; 
they  have  a  first-rate  nurse,  and  she'll  do  all  she 
can  for  them,  and  seeing  you  may  upset  them,  for 
little  Miss  Letty's  light-headed." 

There  was  something  in  his  tone  that  made  Dick 


238  TIPCAT. 

turn  sharply  and  look  into  his  face.  "  Are  they  very 
bad  ?  "  he  said.  "  Do  you  think  they  will  not  get 
well  ? " 

The  doctor  turned  away  to  avoid  the  eager  ques- 
tioning of  Dick's  terrified  eyes,  which  would  not 
allow  of  any  evasion  as  long  as  they  met  the 
doctor's. 

"  Oh  !  we  won't  give  up  hope,"  he  said  ;  "  but  they 
are  delicate  children.  I  would  not  go  in  if  I  were 
you." 

But  the  words  were  not  out  of  his  lips  before  Dick 
had  opened  the  door  of  the  sick  room  and  gone  in. 
Not  go  to  them  ?  Keep  away  ?  Why,  it  was  only  a 
few  minutes  ago  he  had  heard  Letty's  little  voice  say, 
4<  He  don't  never  like  to  be  away  from  us  ; "  and  if 
they  were  going  to  die,  surely  he  must  go  with  them 
as  far  as  he  could,  and  hold  their  little  hands  in 
death's  darkness  as  he  had  so  often  done  when  night 
came  on  and  the  candles  were  not  lighted,  and 
childish  terrors,  real  or  assumed,  filled  the  little  ones' 
minds.  If  they  were  going  down  into  that  cold  river, 
surely  they  would  want  him  to  help  them.  Ah,  why 
could  he  not  carry  them  both  over  in  his  arms,  as  he 
had  so  often  done  across  the  brooks  and  streams 
round  Slowmill,  so  that  they  should  all  reach  that 


TO  THE  RESCUE.  239 

other  side  safely  together  ?  Ah,  that  other  side  !  If 
they  were  going  this  long  journey,  surely  they  must 
want  brother  Dick  to  see  them  off  and  say  good-bye. 
Ah,  what  a  world  of  good-byes  this  was  ! 

As  he  opened  the  door  he  heard  Letty's  voice  talk- 
ing quick  and  eagerly  ;  but  he  did  not  need  to  look 
at  the  hot,  flushed  face  and  bright,  restless  eyes,  or 
even  to  hear  the  words  she  said,  to  know  that  it  was 
the  talk  of  delirium. 

Sybil  lay  still,  unnaturally  still,  Dick  thought,  who 
had  seen  her  tossing  and  turning,  never  quiet  for  five 
minutes  together  for  days.  In  the  dim  light  of  the 
room,  for  the  sun  had  set  by  now,  the  child's  face 
looked  ghastly  white  and  set,  and  the  bed-clothes 
seemed  to  fall  in  those  motionless,  sculpture-like, 
solemn  folds  as  they  do  over  the  dead. 

Dick  turned  with  a  sick  heart  to  the  other  bed. 
Here,  at  any  rate,  there  was  life.     The  nurse  was  at 
Letty's  side,  trying  to  sooth  her  excitement  and  keep  __ 
the  clothes  over  her,  but  she  drew  back  as  Dick  ap- 
proached, and  gave  up  her  place  to  him. 

"  She  has  been  asking  for  you,"  she  said,  "  and  I 
told  her  you  were  asleep." 

"  You  should  have  called  me  at  once,"  he  said 
quite  sharply.  "  You  must  always  send  for  me  directly 


240  TIP  CAT. 

if  they  want  me  and  I  am  not  in  the  room.  Here  I 
am,  Letty  ;  do  you  want  brother  Dick  ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  want  Dick,"  Letty  said ;  "  but  he's  asleep. 
Poor  Dick  !  he's  tired  and  gone  to  sleep.  Hush,  you 
mustn't  wake  him.  He'll  come  when  he  wakes.  It's 
Dick  I  want,"  went  on  the  poor,  little,  thick  voice, 
while  those  great,  bright,  unrecognising  eyes  looked 
into  Dick's  face,  and  the  little,  burning  hands  pushed 
him  feebly  away.  "  I  don't  want  nobody  but  Dick, 
and  he's  asleep.  Go  away,  please  ;  I  want  Dick." 

"  She  does  not  know  me,"  said  poor  Dick,  turning 
away  with  a  sob. 


POOR  DICK.  241 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

POOR    DICK. 

IT  was  not  very  long,  as  Dr.  Lee  had  thought,  be- 
fore he  had  another  patient  at  Tipton  Farm.  That 
evening,  as  Dick  sat  down  stairs  with  Tip  Cat,  smok- 
ing and  listening  for  any  movement  in  the  room  above, 
a  messenger  from  the  town  brought  up  a  letter  that 
had  come  to  Mr.  Burgess's  for  Dick.  It  bore  a  heavy, 
black  edge,  and  the  writing  was  Uncle  Tom's. 

The  whole  world  seemed  edged  with  black  to  Dick 
just  then,  and  he  opened  it  and  glanced  through  the 
contents,  as  if  it  were  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world,  that  his  two  little  cousins  should  both  be  dead, 
and  their  mother  nearly  out  of  her  mind  with  despair, 
and  as  for  Uncle  Tom's  really  heart-felt  words  of  re- 
gret for  all  that  had  passed  between  him  and  Dick 
and  the  little  girls,  and  his  acknowledgment  that  he 


242  TIP  CAT. 

had  acted  neither  justly  nor  generously  by  them,  and 
his  assurances  that  things  should  be  very  different,  if 
they  would  come  back  to  London  and  let  bygones 
be  bygones,  Dick  read  them  through  with  indiffer- 
ence, as  something  in  which  he  had  no  concern, 
something  that  was  ages  too  late  to  do  any  good. 

Even  the  almost  illegible  words  scrawled  at  the 
bottom  in  Aunt  Maria's  writing,  "  Forgive  me,  Dick," 
hardly  moved  his  dulled  feelings  even  to  pity.  He 
had  said,  when  last  they  met  at  Sandyshore,  "  if  any 
harm  happened  to  the  children,  I  could  never  forgive 
you,"  but  now  the  grievous  harm  had  happened,  the 
aching  in  his  head  and  heart  seemed  to  leave  no  room 
for  anger  against  the  cause  of  it,  or  for  active  for- 
giveness. 

"  No  bad  news,  I  hope,"  Tip  Cat  said  as  he  laid 
down  the  letter.  He  felt  very  constrained  in  Dick's 
company,  having  been  for  years  unused  to  the  society 
of  his  equals,  and  being,  moreover,  troubled  and  em- 
barrassed by  Dick's  gratitude  ;  a-  d  having  his  heart 
full  of  sorrow  and  liking  for  the  young  fellow,  who 
every  moment  by  some  look  or  tone  or  movement  re- 
called the  dead  mother,  even  more  than  little  Letty, 
whose  face  actually  more  closely  resembled  her.  He 
wanted  to  tell  Dick  about  his  mother  and  explain  to 


POOR  DICK.  243 


him  that  anything  he  could  do  for  his  dead  love's  chil- 
dren (and  the  most  he  could  do  seemed  infinitely  lit- 
tle) was  such  a  relief  and  happiness  to  his  own  heart, 
that  the  gratitude  should  be  all  on  his  side,  but  he 
did  not  know  how  to  begin,  and  conversation  on  in- 
different matters  languished  and  easily  dropped  into 
silence.  "  No  bad  news,  I  hope  ?  "  Tip  Cat  said, 
when  the  letter  came,  and  Dick  answered,  "  Oh,  no, 
not  at  all,  thank  you,"  as  he  laid  the  letter  down,  and 
then  remembered  himself.  "  Yes — that  is,  very  bad 
news  for  my  uncle  and  aunt ;  they  have  lost  both  their 
little  girls." 

"  Have  they  any  others  ?  " 

"  No,  there  were  only  those  two,  Ellen  and  Grace." 

"  Bad  job  !  "  said  Tip  Cat. 

"  Yes,  they're  terribly  cut  up.  They  want  us  to 
go  back  to  London,  but  I  must  write  and  tell  them 
it's  too  late.  If  he'd  written  a  month  ago,  we  might 
have  gone,  and  it  might  have  saved  the  children,  but 
now,"  Dick  went  on  with  such  a  dreary  look  of  misery 
in  his  eyes,  that  Tip  Cat's  heart  ached  to  see  it,  "  I 
couldn't  go  without  the  children  ;  go  back  just  as  if 
nothing  had  happened,  and  be  rich  and  comfortable, 
and  all  that,  without  Letty  and  Sybil." 

Tip  Cat  said  nothing,  but  there  was  something  sym- 


244  TIP  CAT. 

pathetic  in  his  strange,  light  eyes  that  encouraged 
Dick  to  go  and  pour  out  some  of  the  trouble  that  was 
weighing  on  his  heart,  only,  as  he  talked,  strange 
confusions  .crept  in,  names  that  Tip  Cat  had  never 
heard  before,  Kathie  Dumbleton's  among  the  num- 
ber. 

"  Have  I  been  talking  nonsense  ? "  Dick  said,  sud- 
denly pulling  himself  up.  "  My  head  feels  so  funny 
and  confused.  I  think  I'll  go  up  and  see  how 
they're  getting  on." 

But  as  he  rose  to  go  he  turned  so  giddy,  that  he 
had  to  catch  at  the  back  of  a  chair,  to  keep  himself 
from  falling. 

"  Hullo  !  "  he  said,  "  what's  wrong  with  me  ?  " 

He  stood  a  minute,  and  then  made  a  second  effort ; 
but  this  time  Tip  Cat  caught  him,  and  landed  him 
safely  in  a  chair. 

"  I  feel  awfully  queer,"  he  said  ;  "  I  wonder  if 
I'm  going  to  be  ill  ?  I  say !  "  he  went  on,  quickly, 
holding  his  head  in  both  hands,  as  if  he  were  trying  to 
keep  back  the  deadly  giddiness  for  a  minute  to  speak 
plainly,  "  it  will  be  a  horrid  bother  for  you,  and  I'm 
awfully  sorry  for  you ;  but  if  I'm  ill,  you'd  better 
write  and  let  Uncle  Tom  know.  There's  his  letter 
with  the  address,  and  he  ought  to  see  after  the  fune- 


POOR  DICK.  245 


rals,  you  know — and  oh !  "  said  Dick,  "  if  it  wasn't 
such  a  bother  for  you,  when  you've  been  so  kind 
already,  it  seems  just  the  very  best  thing  that  we 
should  all  of  us  go  together — over,"  he  went  on,  his 
voice  getting  lower  and  more  indistinct,  "  to  the 
other  side." 

And  then  he  fell  forward  against  Tip  Cat,  who 
took  him  in  his  great,  strong  arms  and  carried  him 
up-stairs~  with  such  a  loving,  tender  care,  as  if  it 
might  have  been  Letty  herself  of  long  ago  come  to 
claim  his  promise. 

For  many  days  Dick  lay  between  life  and  death, 
and  so  near  death  sometimes,  that  Dr.  Lee  was  fain 
to  give  up  the  battle ;  and  he  always  maintained 
that  it  was  nothing  but  Tip  Cat's  unwearied  nursing 
that  saved  Dick's  life,  for  Tip  Cat  was  one  of  those 
exceptional  born  nurses  of  whom  I  have  spoken  be- 
fore— never  sleeping,  nor  wearying,  nor  despairing ; 
and  Ridge  was  as  invaluable  outside  the  sick-room 
as  Tip  Cat  was  in  it,  having  everything  that  was 
wanted  ready  punctually  to  a  second,  without  any 
noise  or  bustle,  or  slamming  doors,  or  scolding  voices. 
And  now  and  then  Nurse  Esther  sat  by  Dick's  bed- 
side ;  but  this  was  not  often,  for  Tip  Cat  was  jealous 
of  his  rights,  and  seemed  above  the  considerations 


246  TIP  CAT. 

of  rest  and  food,  that  are  so  necessary  for  mortals 
generally. 

When  Dick  first  came  back  to  dim,  indistinct  con- 
sciousness, the  first  thing  he  noticed,  as  he  had  done 
after  his  nap  that  first  afternoon,  was  the  picture  on 
the  wall  above  the  bed;  but  he  was  too  weak  to 
think  or  wonder  about  it,  and  only  lay  watching  it  in 
that  strange,  dead  calm  of  utter  prostration. 

It  also  seemed  to  him  natural,  and  he  did  not 
wonder  that  Tip  Cat  should  be  always  at  his  side, 
ready  to  raise  him  or  to  shift  his  pillows,  or  to  give 
him  some  drink  ;  he  had  got  used  to  that  even  in  his 
unconscious  fever  and  delirium,  and  Tip  Cat  seemed 
to  know  without  a  word  what  he  wanted,  and  to  be 
able  to  do  it  just  right. 

There  seemed  no  measure  of  time  to  Dick  just 
then ;  sometimes  it  was  dark,  with  the  shaded  lamp 
burning  on  the  table,  sometimes  there  was  light 
coming  from  the  window  ;  but  night  and  day  seemed 
melted  together  in  a  strange,  vague  way,  as  undefined 
as  the  furniture  in  the  room,  or  the  faces  that  came 
now  and  then  to  the  side  of  his  bed. 

But  gradually  things  began  to  get  more  distinct, 
and  his  mind  grew  slowly  to  assert  itself,  and  memory 
began  weaving  the  woolly  past  into  shape,  and  Tip 


POOR  DICK.  247 


Cat  noticed  a  new  look  in  Dick's  eyes  as  they  fol- 
lowed him  about  the  room.  There  was  a  ques- 
tion in  them,  and  Tip  Cat  longed  to  answer  it,  only 
he  did  not  feel  sure  how  much  Dick  remembered, 
or  how  much  it  might  be  safe  to  tell  him.  But  pres- 
ently the  question  came  to  the  lips  that  had  been  so 
silent  since  the  wild,  constant  talk  of  delirium  had 
ceased. 

"  Have  I  been  ill  long  ? "  so  low  that  only  a 
mother  or  Tip  Cat  would  have  heard  the  words. 

"  Three  weeks  to  day." 

"  So  long  ?  "  He  said  no  more  after  that  but  lay 
so  still  with  his  eyes  closed  that  Tip  Cat  thought  he 
was  asleep,  till  he  saw  two  tears  force  their  way  be- 
tween the  closed  lids  and  roll  down  the  white,  119!- 
low  cheeks. 

Three  weeks  !  they  were  all  to  have  gone  together 
and  the  little  ones  had  to  go  alone  into  all  the  strange- 
ness of  the  other  side,  without  brother  Dick.  If 
he  might  only  have  gone  first,  just  to  show  them 
that  there  was  not  so  much  to  be  frightened  at  after 
all!  And  they  were  such  frightened  little  things, 
especially  Letty,  and  they  had  to  go  without  him. 
It  did  seem  hard  ! 

He  was  worse  that  night,  more  feverish  and  a  little 


248  TIPCAT. 

light-headed  again,  repeating  that  he  must  go,  he 
must  go — the  children  were  waiting  for  him.  But 
after  this  relapse  he  steadily  improved,  gaining  a 
little  strength  every  day,  sleeping  a  little  better,  able 
to  take  nourishment  more  easily.  But  as  he  grew 
stronger,  he  became  more  irritable  and  impatient — a 
sure  sign,  Dr.  Lee  declared,  of  approaching  convales- 
cence ;  but  Tip  Cat  thought  there  was  another  cause. 

It  was  after  Dr.  Lee's  visits  that  he  was  the  most 
gloomy  and  out  of  temper,  especially  when  that 
gentleman  assumed  the  cheerful,  rousing  manner 
that  was  so  effective  sometimes  with  morbid  patients, 
and  assured  him  that  he  was  ever  so  much  better 
and  would  soon  be  eating  his  mutton-chop  and  walk- 
ing his  six  miles  a  day  again. 

"  Why  does  he  come  here  telling  a  pack  of  lies  ? " 
Dick  asked  angrily  one  day.  "  Does  he  think  I'm 
a  nervous  woman  and  afraid  of  the  truth  ?  " 

Dick  seemed  to  watch  grudgingly  his  own  improve- 
ment, resenting  the  notion  that  he  had  slept  soundly, 
and  denying  quite  fiercely  the  suggestion  that  he  was 
hungry.  He  tried  to  think  himself  as  helpless  as 
ever,  and  ignored,  as  much  as  he  could,  the  fact  that 
he  could  raise  and  move  himself  better  and  more 
easily  every  day. 


POOR  DICK.  249 


It  was  not  only  the  fractiousness  of  convalescence, 
Tip  Cat  felt  sure,  but  something  deeper-rooted. 

One  day,  as  Dick  lay  with  that  settled  look  of 
gloom  on  his  face,  Tip  Cat  offered  to  read  him  some- 
thing, and  Dick  drew  out  from  under  his  pillow  a 
little,  old  prayer  book,  that  had  belonged  to  his 
mother.  It  had  been  sent  home  after  she  died,  and 
Dick  had  always  kept  it  with  him,  and  it  had  been 
in  his  pocket  the  night  he  was  taken  ill,  and  Tip  Cat 
had  found  it  there,  and  had  put  it  on  the  table  by 
the  bedside,  and  from  there  it  had  been  taken  by 
Dick  one  restless,  weary  night,  and  he  had  slept  with 
his  cheek  resting  against  it,  as  if  the  worn,  brown 
cover  conveyed  some  mother's  comforting  to  him. 

Now  he  put  it  in  Tip  Cat's  hand,  who  took  it  rev- 
erently, for  traced  in  pale  ink  in  the  beginning  was 
the  name  that  was  written  on  his  heart  in  living 
letters  of  love.  There  were  some  rose  leaves  pressed 
between  the  pages,  rose  leaves  that  he  would  have 
loved  to  think  had  been  placed  there  by  his  dead 
love's  hands,  but  they  were  too  fresh  for  that,  for  not 
three  months  ago  they  had  been  blooming  in  the 
gardens  of  Tipton  Grange,  sweet  and  fragrant  under 
the  eyes  of  two  young  lovers. 

"  Read,"  said  Dick.      And  Tip  Cat  read  where 


250  TIPCAT. 

he  opened,  a  psalm,  some  prayers,  a  parable  ;  and 
then  there  was  silence,  for  his  heart  was  so  full  of 
his  old  love  that  he  had  almost  forgotten  Dick  till 
he  spoke.  "  Tip  Cat,  do  you  think  I  am  going  to  get 
well  ?  " 

There  was  an  eagerness  in  his  voice  that  might 
have  shown  the  longing  for  life  that  is  so  strong  in 
most  people. 

"  Yes,  thank  God,  I  do." 

"  But  why  should  I  ?  What  can  I  do  ?  I've 
made  such  a  shocking  mess  of  it  and  I  haven't  the 
heart  to  try  again,  and  all  by  myself  too  !  all  by  my- 
self, without  the  little  ones — without  little  Letty  and 
Sybil  !  " 

His  voice  was  very  weak  and  uncertain  yet,  and  it 
kept  breaking  and  choking  with  sobs  that  he  was  not 
strong  enough  to  suppress,  though  he  struggled  man- 
fully, swallowing  the  sobs,  dashing  away  the  hot 
tears,  grasping  and  twisting  the  bed-clothes  in  his 
hands,  in  his  strong  wrestling  with  the  emotion 
that  overpowered  him.  Tip  Cat  was  watching  him 
with  a  troubled,  puzzled,  anxious  look  at  first  ;  but, 
by  degrees,  a  light  seemed  to  break  on  him  and  clear 
up  all  the  perplexity  in  his  eyes,  and  then  he  tried 
several  times  to  interrupt  Dick  with  some  eager 


POOR  DICK.  251 


words  of  consolation  or  explanation  ;  but  Dick  gave 
no  heed,  for  what  words  could  comfort  him  under 
this  heavy  burden  of  life  without  his  little  sisters, 
and  presently  Tip  Cat  got  up  and  went  away. 

Dick  hardly  noticed  that  he  had  gone  ;  but,  by 
and  by,  as  his  agitation  quieted  down,  the  silence  of 
the  room  and  of  the  whole  house  struck  on  him  pain- 
fully. The  blind  was  up,  and  through  the  window 
he  could  see  the  yellow  leaves  of  a  lime  tree,  drop- 
ping, dropping  through  the  damp,  misty  air.  The 
closing  of  a  door  in  a  distant  part  of  the  house  and 
a  voice  caught  his  ear,  and  set  him  suddenly  listen- 
ing, raised  on  his  elbow,  with  a  beating  heart  and 
held  breath,  but  he  dropped  back  again  in  a  moment 
with  a  groan,  for  what  ear,  however  keen  and  loving, 
can  hear  voices  from  beyond  the  grave  ?  And  as 
far  as  those  dear,  young  voices  were  concerned,  Dick 
knew  his  life  must  go  silent  till  his  death.  Where 
had  they  laid  them  ?  Who  stood  by  when  their  last 
bedtime  came  ?  How  they  used  to  cling  about 
him  when  they  said  good  night,  and  make  him  pro- 
mise, "  ever  so  faithful,"  to  come  and  see  them  after 
they  were  in  bed,  and  how  often  when  he  came,  for 
he  always  kept  that  promise,  they  were  both  asleep  in 
that  rosy,  happy,  light  sleep  of  childhood,  that  is  as 


252  TIP  CAT. 

different  to  manhood's  heavy,  weary  slumber  as  a 
midsummer  night,  full  of  soft  starlight  and  dewy 
fragrance,  to  the  cold,  black  bitterness  of  winter. 

Again  a  sound  in  the  distance  startled  him  ;  but 
this  time  he  would  not  be  deceived  ;  he  drew  up 
the  bed-clothes  over  eyes  and  ears,  and  tried  to  court 
sleep  with  that  set  determination  which  is  the  surest 
way  of  driving  that  coy  visitor  away. 

But  if  he  did  not  succeed  in  sleeping,  he  did  in 
closing  his  ears  to  outside  sounds,  for  the  door 
opened  without  his  hearing  it,  and  some  one  came 
to  the  side  of  the  bed  and  laid  something  at  his  side, 
something  that  disentangled  itself  from  the  great 
knitted  shawl  in  which  it  was  wrapped,  and  pulled 
down  the  clothes  from  Dick's  unwilling  face  with 
hands  that  were  warm,  living  flesh  and  blood,  though 
as  thin  and  white  as  flesh  and  blood  could  be,  and 
pressed  a  soft,  little  cheek  against  Dick's  saying,  in 
Letty's  sweet,  little  voice,  "  Make  room  for  me, 
Dick,  for  Sybil  wants  to  come  too."  And  there 
was  Sybil  jumping  out  of  Tip  Cat's  arms  on  to  the  bed, 
with  that  queer,  little  chuckle  of  satisfaction  which 
Dick  knew  so  well,  and  with  nearly  as  much  life 
and  bright  energy  and  brisk  enjoyment  as  ever. 

"  It  was  all  that  fool  of  a  doctor,"  said  Tip  Cat,  a 


POOR  DICK.  253 


few  minutes  later,  sitting  at  the  end  of  the  bed,  with 
tears  in  his  light  eyes  rather  dimming  the  pleasing 
sight  of  three  heads  on  Dick's  pillow,  where  one  had 
lain  so  long  alone,  and  four  arms  twined  so  tightly 
round  Dick's  neck  that  any  one  else  might  well  have 
cried  for  mercy  in  the  fear  of  suffocation.  "  It  was 
that  idiot  Lee  ;  he  said  we  must  not  mention  the 
children  because  you  were  always  raving  about  them 
in  your  delirium,  and  he  had  them  moved  to  the 
other  end  of  the  house,  so  that  you  should  not  hear 
a  sound.  And  I  was  a  bigger  fool  than  he  was," 
went  on  Tip  Cat,  "  because  I  knew  he  was  wrong  all 
along,  and  hadn't  wit  enough  to  snap  my  fingers  in 
his  face." 


254  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

GETTING   WELL. 

AFTER  all,  Dick  came  to  the  conclusion,  it  is  very 
pleasant  getting  well,  and  the  world  is  very  beautiful, 
and  life  has  a  good  many  bright  days  even  for  poor 
fellows  who  cannot  marry  their  lady  loves,  and  who 
have  to  work  hard  for  their  livings.  The  very  idea 
of  work  even  is  not  unpleasant  when  head  and  hands 
are  getting  stronger  every  day,  and  little  active  im- 
pulses and  energies  make  themselves  felt,  that  have 
lain  dormant  through  fever  and  weakness  ;  not  im- 
mediate work  perhaps,  for  it  is  still  pleasant  to  lie 
on  the  sofa  in  that  sunny  bow  window  and  be  petted 
and  waited  on  by  Tip  Cat  and  Ridge  and  Nurse 
Esther  and  Sybil ;  for  Letty  needs  almost  more  pet- 
ting and  waiting  on  than  Dick,  being  still  a  very 
transparent,  little  shadow. 

They  are  no  longer  at  Tipton  Farm,  but  at  Tor- 
quay, and  it  is  the  end  of  October,  though  it  might 


GETTING  WELL.  255 

be  August  to  judge  from  the  warm  sunshine  pouring 
in  at  the  window,  and  the  bright  blue  of  the  bay, 
and  the  rich  green  that  clothes  the  slopes,  and  only 
here  and  there  a  patch  of  red  and  russet  foliage  be- 
trays the  fact  that  winter  is  near.  The  window  is 
open  and  Kaiser  sits  outside  on  the  balcony  in  dig- 
nified ugliness,  blinking  in  the  sun  and  watching 
the  people  mounting  the  hill  to  the  church  above, 
from  whence  the  sound  of  a  pleasantly-toned  bell  is 
calling  to  afternoon  service. 

Dick  is  alone  with  the  children,  for  Tip  Cat  is 
out,  and  Nurse  and  Ridge  are  among  the  groups  of 
people  climbing  the  hill,  watched  by  Kaiser,  and  by 
Sybil  too,  from  the  window.  Ridge  and  the  nurse 
are  great  friends  by  this  time,  all  the  greater  for 
their  mutual  distrust  at  first  ;  and  Ridge  has  grown 
quite  young  again  in  her  society,  and  smartens  him- 
self up  and  looks  quite  soldierly  and  imposing,  and 
the  little  girls  have  made  a  plan  that  Ridge  and  nurse 
shall  marry  and  live  in  the  lodge  at  Tipton  Grange, 
instead  of  that  cross,  old  woman  in  spectacles,  who 
threw  stones  at  Kaiser  because  he  went  after  her  cat. 

Nurse  listens  to  these  arrangements  with  a  smile? 
and  tells  them  not  to  talk  such  rubbish,  and  that 
Ridge  is  old  enough  to  be  her  grandfather,  but  owns, 


256  TIP  CAT. 

when  much  pressed,  that  he  is  still  a  fine  man,  and 
has  more  notion  of  what  he's  about  than  half  the 
young  men  one  meets. 

Dick  had  been  reading  to  the  children  out  of 
their  mother's  Prayer  Book,  after  which  followed  an 
ineffectual  search  on  Letty  and  Sybil's  part  in  the 
Bible  for  the  story  of  "  Beauty  and  the  Beast,"  which 
they  both  stoutly  maintained  was  to  be  found  there. 
Dick  was  much  puzzled  as  to  what  could  have  given 
rise  to  this  idea,  but  when  a  Bible  with  an  Apocrypha 
was  found,  he  was  able  to  trace  it  to  "  Bel  and  the 
Dragon,"  the  name  of  which  certainly  sounded  pro- 
mising, but  which  was  very  disappointing  on  further 
examination. 

This  rather  exhausted  their  ardor  of  Biblical  re- 
search, and  Sybil  remembered  that  it  must  be  quite 
time  for  Letty  and  Dick  to  take  their  medicine. 
Nurse  Esther  having  intrusted  her  with  the  charge 
of  administering  it.  She  had  already  twice  tried  to 
persuade  Dick  that  the  proper  time  had  arrived,  and 
had  shaken  the  bottle  so  vigorously  that  its  con- 
tents were  more  than  half  froth,  and  had  done  a  good 
deal  of  scrutinising  the  medicine  glass  with  one  eye 
shut,  to  master  the  exact  line  to  which  the  medicine 
was  to  reach. 


GETTING  WELL.  257 


Now,  as  they  were  within  about  half  an  hour  of 
the  right  time,  Dick  agreed  to  take  the  medicine, 
and  Sybil  at  once  assumed  the  most  important  and 
dignified  airs,  which  Letty  perhaps  a  little  bit  re- 
sented, as  she  would  have  loved  to  do  the  same,  but 
which  Dick  encouraged  by  pretending  extreme  dis- 
gust and  horror  of  the  medicine,  intreating  piteously 
to  be  allowed  to  leave  it  or  at  any  rate  to  have  a 
piece  of  sugar  to  take  the  taste  out  of  his  mouth, 
and  at  last  swallowing  it  with  such  dreadful  grimaces, 
that  Sybil  was  obliged  to  taste  it  herself  to  see  if  it 
really  were  so  bad,  and  then  to  fetch  lumps  of  sugar 
for  the  whole  party,  Kaiser  included,  to  console 
them. 

She  found  it  rather  dull  after  this  excitement  was 
over,  but  remembered  that  Nurse  Esther  always 
washed  the  medicine  glass  after  it  was  used,  so  went 
bustling  off  to  do  it,  coming  back  after  a  long  time, 
with  the  front  of  her  frock  rather  damp  and  her 
fingers  very  cold  and  pink — results  which  such  a 
small  matter  as  the  washing  of  one  medicine  glass 
seemed  hardly  sufficient  to  account  for. 

Meanwhile  Dick  and  Letty  were  having  a  quiet, 
little  talk  by  themselves. 

"  Dick,  shall  we  always  live  with  Tip  Cat  now  ? " 


2$8  TIP  CAT. 

"  Oh  no,  Letty  ;  why  should  we  ? " 

"  Nurse  said  she  thought  we  should,  and  so  did 
Ridge  ;  they  were  talking  about  it  yesterday." 

Her  questions  set  Dick  off  thinking;  but  again 
Letty's  voice  broke  in  on  his  thoughts. 

"  Dick,  I  suppose  we  sha'n't  go  and  live  with 
Aunt  Maria,  shall  we,  now  she  hasn't  got  Ellen  and 
Grace  ?  And,  Dick,  ought  I  always  to  say  poor  Ellen 
and  poor  Grace  when  I  speak  of  them  ?  Nurse  and 
Martha  always  did  when  any  one  was  dead,  and  so 
did  Mrs.  Tysoe." 

"  No,  Letty.  Nurse  and  Martha  don't  think  when 
they  talk  like  that.  Do  you  know,  little  Letty,  when 
I  was  so  ill,  I  thought  that  you  and  Sybil  were  both 
dead ;  but  I  never  once  thought  of  you  as  poor 
Letty  or  poor  Sybil,  but  happy,  little  Letty  and 
Sybil,  and  poor,  poor  Dick,  to  have  to  live  without 
them  ! " 

Need  I  say  that  by  this  time  Letty  was  on  Dick's 
sofa,  as  if  the  distance  between  the  armchair  and 
the  sofa  might  be  enough  to  make  Dick  poor. 

"  And  don't  you  remember,"  Dick  went  on,  "  how 
Ellen  looked  that  day  we  saw  her  at  Sandyshore  ? 
how  ill  and  tired  and  sad  she  seemed,  not  able  to 
run  about  or  be  happy  or  out  of  pain  for  a  minute  ? 


GETTING  WELL.  259 

She  was  poor  Ellen  then,  but  that  is  all  changed 
now."  He  was  thinking  to  himself  though  he  would 
not  say  it  to  her,  that,  apart  from  her  illness  and 
suffering,  she  would  still  have  been  poor  Ellen, 
brought  up  to  be  hard,  and  cold,  and  calculating,  as 
might  so  well  have  happened. 

"  Shall  we  go  and  live  with  Aunt  Maria  ?  "  There 
was  rather  a  dreary,  little  tone  in  the  voice  that  asked 
the  question. 

"  Should  you  like  to,  Letty  ?  " 

For  all  answer  the  arm  tightened  round  his  neck. 

"  Then,  I  suppose,"  said  Letty,  trying  to  speak 
very  cheerfully,  but  with  a  little  inward  shrinking, 
like  a  young  bird  peeping  out  at  a  cold  world  from 
under  his  .mother's  wing,  "  that  we  shall  go  back  to 
Mrs.  Ricketts  ?  " 

"  No,  Letty  ;  never  again,  my  little  one.  " 

"  Then  do  you  think  we  could  really  and  truly 
afford  to  live  at  Mrs.  Tysoe's  ?  Do  you  know,  Dick, 
Mr.  Tysoe  came  ever  so  many  times  to  ask  how  we 
were,  and  brought  us  all  sorts  of  things  we  weren't 
allowed  to  have — sweets  and  preserved  ginger  and 
candied  peel — and  Mrs.  Tysoe  came  up  once  in  the 
cart,  and  was  so  angry  because  she  was  not  let  in  to 
see  us  ?  But  there's  the  new  lodger,  Dick — the  travel- 


260  TIP  CAT. 

ler,  you  know — perhaps  he  would  not  like  to  turn  out 
and  let  us  have  the  rooms  again,  and  what  shall  \ve 
do  then  ? " 

Dick  was  hardly  listening  to  Letty's  words,  for  her 
questions  had  set  his  mind  so  busily  to  work  on  what 
would  indeed  be  the  best  plan  for  the  future.  Cer- 
tainly any  arrangement  like  that  of  living  at  the  Rick- 
etts'  was  quite  out  of  the  question,  and  even  the 
Tysoes',  if  it  was  to  be  had,  he  felt  would  hardly  be 
the  place  for  that  very  fragile,  little  sister  of  his. 
And,  besides,  how  did  he  know  that  Mr.  Burgess's 
situation  would  still  be  open  to  him,  or  if  he  would 
have 'to  seek  another  elsewhere  ?  Surely  Uncle  Tom 
would  be  willing  now  (and  it  was  only  right  and  pro- 
per that  he  should  do  st>)  to  provide  for  the  children  ; 
"  And  as  for  me,"  thought  Dick,  "when  I'm  all  right 
again " 

But  just  as  Dick  got  so  far  in  his  meditations  Tip 
Cat  came  in,  a  little  gruff  at  finding  the  window  still 
open  and  the  fire  almost  out,  for  the  sun  had  set,  and 
even  at  Torquay  the  end  of-  October  is  not  like  August 
after  sunset. 

But  by  and  by,  when  the  windows  were  shut  and 
the  curtains  drawn  and  the  sofa  wheeled  round  to 
the  fire,  which  had  woke  up  to  fill  the  room  with 


GETTING  WELL.  261 

warmth  and  ruddy  light,  Tip  Cat,  who  had  Letty  in 
his  arms,  started  the  very  subject  the  two  had  been 
discussing  before  he  came  in. 

"  How  would  you  like,  Letty,  to  live  at  Tipton 
Grange  ? " 

"  At  Tipton  Grange,  with  Mrs.  Vivian  and  Kathie 
Dumbleton  ?  " 

"  No  ;  at  Tipton  Grange  with  me." 

He  gave  a  little,  quick  look  across  at  Dick  to  see 
if  he  were  listening,  and  then  went  on  talking  to  Letty 
and  to  Sybil,  who  came  to  sit  on  a  stool  at  his  feet. 

"  You  see,  Mrs.  Vivian's  lease  is  up  next  year,  and 
she  wants  to  renew  it.  It's  a  large  house,  you  know, 
Letty,  too  large  for  me  and  Ridge,  we  should  lose 
one  another  in  it,  and  spend  all  our  lives  trying  to 
find  one  another  again.  But  it  would  be  just  the 
right  size  for  you  and  me  and  Sybil  and  Dick,  and  we 
should  want  a  few  servants  to  wait  on  us,  and  per- 
haps a  governess  or  so —  Oh !  I  don't  mean,  of 
course,  for  you  and  Sybil,  but  for  me  and  Dick  ;  and 
then,  perhaps,  when  Dick  comes  home  from  Oxford, 
he'll  bring  friends  with  him,  and  they  will  help  to  fill 
the  place,  and  then,  of  course,  you  and  Sybil  will  ask 
your  friends " 

"  Oh  yes ! "  burst  in  Sybil,  "  there's  the  Tysoes. 


262  TIP  CAT. 

I  know  they'd  like  to  come,  for  Mr.  Tysoe  said  he'd 
never  once  been  in  at  the  front  door." 

"  Yes,  to  be  sure,  the  Tysoes,"  went  on  Tip  Cat, 
still  with  half  an  eye  on  Dick's  face,  the  expression 
of  which  he  could  not  quite  make  out,  though  he  saw 
his  hands,  which  had  grown  so  thin  and  white  in  his 
illness,  clench  and  unclench  nervously,  as  he  listened. 
"  Do  you  think  you  could  be  happy  there  with  me  ? 
Stop  a  bit,  Dick !  Don't  be  in  a  hurry,  lad !  "  For 
Dick  had  half  raised  himself  from  the  sofa,  with  vehe- 
ment words  on  his  lips.  "  I  must  have  my  say  first, 
and  tell  you  why  I  have  a  sort  of  right  to  you  and 
Lettyand  Sybil." 

And  then  he  told  him  of  his  love  for  their  mother, 
and  of  that  promise  made  years  ago  under  the  gold- 
en chestnut  tree  in  the  vicarage  garden,  a  promise 
that  seemed  to  have  fallen  as  dead  as  those  bright 
autumn  leaves  ;  forgotten  as  completely  as  last  year's 
leaves  when  the  buds  came  out  in  May,  the  buds  of 
her  great  love  for  another ;  buried  with  that  dear 
dust  to  dust  in  that  far  away  grave  in  India.  Till 
suddenly,  when  least  he  looked  for  it,  he  had  been 
reminded  of  this  promise  by  Letty's  eyes  looking  up 
at  him  from  her  child's  face  among  the  bushes  by 
the  plank  bridge,  and  having  been  slow,  fool  that  he 


GETTING  WELL.  263 


was  !  to  hear  his  dead  lady's  voice,  he  had  let  it  pass 
till  it  came  clear  and  plain  beyond  all  mistaking, 
in  poor,  little  Letty's  cry  for  help  in  their  trouble. 
"  And  now,"  he  said,  "  do  you  think  I  can  let  you 
go  again  ?  " 

"  You  are  so  good,"  Dick  said  ;  his  voice  was 
trembling,  he  was  not  very  strong  yet,  and  it  was  as 
much  as  he  could  do  to  keep  the  tears  back  from  his 
eyes,  and  to  steady  his  uncertain  voice.  "  You  have 
been  so  good  to  us  already  that  it  seems  a  ridiculous 
insult  to  thank  you  for  what  is  quite  beyond  all 
thanks.  You  gave  us  back  our  lives,  you  know.  Oh 
yes !  I  know,  I  am  not  ungrateful,  but  don't  you  see, 
it  was  through  you,  all  through  you." 

Letty  and  Sybil  had  been  wafted  somehow  out  of 
the  room  by  nurse  Esther  to  tea,  and  Dick  and  Tip 
Cat  were  alone  just  now. 

"  Don't  you  think,",  went  on  Dick,  getting  more 
indistinct  and  chokey  every  minute,  "  that  you  have 
more  than  fulfilled  your  promise  to  my  mother  with- 
out being  bothered  with  us  any  more  ?  " 

"  Come  now,"  said  Tip  Cat,  "  do  you  think  that 
I  can  just  go  back  to  Tipton  Farm  and  settle  down 
with  Ridge  and  Kaiser  as  if  nothing  had  happened  ? 
I  don't  believe  Ridge  would  do  it,"  he  said,  with  a 


264  TIP   CAT. 

queer  look  at  Dick  as  the  sound  of  Ridge's  voice 
was  heard  from  the  next  room  evidently  taking  part 
in  a  cheerful  tea  with  the  children  and  nurse  Esther  ; 
"  he  has  got  thoroughly  demoralised  and  so  has 
Kaiser.  He  would  not  go  with  me  this  afternoon 
because  Sybil  held  the  end  of  his  tail,  and  the  old 
idiot  was  too  great  a  gentleman  to  pull  it  out  of  her 
little  hand." 

There  was  silence  then  for  a  bit,  and  Dick  lay 
with  great,  luminous  eyes  shining  in  the  firelight 
and  Tip  Cat  watched  him  under  his  thick  brows  and 
waited  for  the  words  to  express  the  thoughts  that  he 
almost  seemed  to  see  passing  from  Dick's  brain  to 
the  tremulous,  eager  lips. 

At  last  he  spoke.  "  Tip  Cat,"  he  said,  "  I  think 
my  mother  would  wish  you  to  have  the  little  girls, 
and  I  know  you'll  be  good  to  them  ;  and  I've  made 
such  a  mull  of  taking  care  of  them  that  I  haven't  the 
pluck  to  try  again  ;  and  they  wouldn't  like  to  go  to 
Aunt  Maria  and  I  shouldn't  like  them  to  go  either, 
though  I  dare  say,  poor  thing,  she'd  do  her  best  to 
be  kind  to  them.  And  if  you  really  will  take  care 
of  them  till  I  see  my  way  and  can  get  on  a  bit,  and 
if  you'll  let  me  come  now  and  then  to  see  them  and 
you,  I'll "  But  here  Dick  broke  down  altogether, 


GETTING  WELL.  265 


and  Tip  Cat  leaning  across  laid  his  hand  on  the 
young  fellow's  shaking  shoulder. 

"  Dick,"  he  said,  "  dear  as  Letty  and  Sybil  are 
to  me,  and  I  love  them  so  that  I  sometimes  wonder  if 
even  I  could  have  loved  their  mother  herself  better, 
it  is  you,  lad,  Letty's  boy,  that  I  love  best  and  that 
I  want  most." 


266  TIP  CAT. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

DICK'S    OBSTINACY". 

DURING  the  fortnight  that  followed  that  Sunday, 
Tip  Cat  discovered  a  quality  in  Dick  which  he  had 
not  hitherto  recognised,  that  quality  which  the  pos- 
sessor calls  firmness  and  other  people  obstinacy,  the 
display  of  which  so  exasperated  Tip  Cat,  that  he  was 
heard  more  than  once  to  declare  that  he  was  an  ob- 
stinate, pig-headed,  young  fool,  and  he  swallowed 
down  such  a  lot  of  strong  language  on  account  of  the 
children's  presence,  that  he  felt  seriously  uncomfort- 
able from  suppressed  wrath. 

The  fact  was  that  nothing  would  induce  Dick  to 
agree  to  Tip  Cat's  plan  for  the  future  as  far  as  he 
himself  was  concerned.  He  accepted  with  the  deep- 
est gratitude  Tip  Cat's  proposal  for  the  little  girls, 
but  for  himself  he  declared  that,  when  he  was  well, 
he  should  look  out  for  another  situation,  if  Mr.  Bur- 
gess's was  not  to  be  had,  and  make  another,  and  he 
hoped  a  more  successful,  effort  to  earn  his  living. 


DICK'S  OBSTINACY.  267 

It  was  in  vain  that  Tip  Cat  talked  and  argued  till 
he  was  hoarse  and  very  angry  ;  Dick  listened  to  all 
he  had  to  say  with  the  greatest  outward  submission 
but  without  budging  an  inch  from  his  determination, 
and  the  conversations  almost  always  ended  with  warm 
expressions  of  gratitude  on  Dick's  part  and  an  ex- 
plosion of  wrath  on  the  part  of  Tip  Cat. 

Tip  Cat  tried  every  persuasion  in  his  power ; 
painted  Dick's  return  to  Oxford  among  all  his  old 
friends,  taking  up  again  the  pleasant,  jolly,  old  life 
just  where  it  had  been  broken  off  ;  his  home  at  Tipton 
Grange  with  the  two  little  girls,  where  he  could  en- 
tertain his  friends ;  of  the  hunters* he  should  have, 
and  the  pheasant  shooting  that  should  be  kept  for 
him,  and  the  moor  in  Scotland  that  they  would  take, 
and  the  yacht  at  Cowes  that  might  make  a  pleasant 
change,  and,  if  he  must  have  something  to  do,  he 
might  be  called  to  the  bar  or  he  might  stand  for  the 
county  if  he  had  any  fancy  that  way ;  did  he  think  the 
estates  had  been  nursing  up  all  these  years  for 
nothing  ? 

But  Dick  only  smiled  and  shook  his  head  and 
sternly  prevented  his  mind  from  resting  even  for  five 
minutes  on  such  glittering  prospects. 

And  then  Tip  Cat  declared  that  it  would  be  months 


268  TIP  CAT. 

before  Dick  would  be  strong  enough  to  do  anything, 
and  drew  such  a  gloomy  picture  of  the  probable  state 
of  his  health  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  that  Dick  threat- 
ened to  show  his  strength  by  carrying  Tip  Cat  him- 
self round  the  room,  and  would  have  attempted  it,  if 
he  had  not  laughed  himself  into  too  hopeless  a  state 
of  exhaustion. 

Then  Tip  Caf  set  Letty  and  Sybil  at  him,  and  this 
was  no  laughing  affair,  for  two  very  tearful  faces  came 
to  Tip  Cat's  door  after  their  interview  with  Dick,  to 
say  that  Dick  was  always  right,  and  they  had  prom- 
ised never  to  try  and  persuade  him  to'  do  anything 
else. 

Then  Tip  Cat  tried  a  desperate  expedient  and  re- 
gretted it  bitterly.  He  said  that,  on  consideration, 
he  thought  it  would  not  be  right  to  take  the  little 
girls  without  Dick,  and  that  as  Dick  so  entirely  de- 
clined his  proposal,  perhaps  it  would  be  better  to 
give  up  the  whole  plan  and  let  Dick  make  some  other 
arrangement  for  his  little  sisters. 

At  first  he  thought  this  thrust  had  told,  for  Dick 
sat  silent  and  still,  and  his  face  was  very  white  ;  but 
he  turned  Tip  Cat's  weapons  on  him  when  he  ans- 
wered that  he,  too,  had  been  thinking  the  matter  over 
very  seriously,  and  he  thought  that,  perhaps,  Tip  Cat 


DICK'S  OBSTINACY  269 

was  right,  for  that  Aunt  Maria,  in  her  great  trouble 
and  bereavement,  had  expressed  a  great  wish  to  have 
the  little  girls  with  her,  and  that  it  might  be  their 
duty  to  consider  her  before  making  other  plans. 

Tip  Cat  was  furious  and  Letty  and  Sybil  in  the 
depths  of  woe,  but  patient  and  resigned  to  do  just 
what  Dick  thought  right ;  but  Letty  had  such  a  fever- 
ish night  in  consequence,  and  was  so  ill  and  prostrate 
next  day,  that  Tip  Cat  was  reduced  to  the  most  abject 
submission,  and  entreated  Dick  to  make  what  ar- 
rangements he  pleased,  but  never  even  to  suggest  the 
idea  of  the  children  going  anywhere  but  into  his  care  ; 
as  if,  indeed,  Dick  had  been  the  first  to  propose  the 
plan. 

Dick  made  rather  an  ungenerous  use  of  this 
victor)',  for  he  wrote  that  very  day  to  Mr.  Burgess 
to  know  if  the  situation  was  still  vacant,  and  if  he 
would  allow  him  to  return  to  his  work  in  a  month's 
time^and  Tip  Cat  looked  on  grimly  while  the  letter 
was  being  written  and  despatched,  and  did  not  dare 
to  say  a  word  of  expostulation  on  account  of  the 
little,  white  face  on  the  sofa  which  grew  tremulous 
at  the  least  sign  of  a  discussion. 

For  two  days  Tip  Cat  comforted  himself  and 
crowed  a  little  over  Dick  with  the  idea  that  Mr.  Bur- 


270  TIP  CAT. 

gess  must  certainly  have  filled  Dick's  place  by  this 
time,  and  no  doubt  much  more  to  his  satisfaction,  as 
Dick  always  represented,  and  firmly  believed,  that  he 
had  made  a  very  poor  job  of  it  at  Mr.  Burgess's 
and  given  a  lot  of  trouble  by  his  inefficiency.  But 
the  next  day  a  letter  came  that  quite  touched  Dick 
by  its  kindness,  and  to  a  corresponding  degree  ir- 
ritated Tip  Cat,  saying  that  Mr.  Burgess  much  re- 
gretted Mr.  Lucas'  illness,  and  should  be  very  glad 
if  he  would  return  to  his  office  when  his  health  was 
quite  re-established,  also  offering  him  a  slight  ad- 
dition to  his  salary,  and  expressing  his  satisfaction 
with  the  manner  in  which  he  had  discharged  his 
duties  while  he  had  been  there. 

Indeed,  Mr.  Burgess  had  found  it  a  very  different 
matter  when  Mr.  Macintosh  undertook  Dick's  du- 
ties, and  even  Mr.  Lupton  had  been  obliged  grudg- 
ingly to  confess,  that  things  had  gone  better  when 
Dick  was  there,  and  that  they  might  have  a  worse 
clerk  than  he  was. 

Tip  Cat's  last  hope  now  seemed  to  have  come  to 
the  ground,  and  he  was  sitting  gloomily  on  one  of  the 
seats  under  the  cliff  near  the  sea  wall,  pondering 
how  best  he  might  alleviate  this  wilful  young  fellow's 
life  without  offending  the  pride  that  he  liked  him  all 


DICK'S  OBSTINACY.  271 

the  better  for  possessing,  when  his  eye  was  caught 
by  the  face  of  a  girl  sitting  in  a  carriage  just  then 
drawn  up  by  the  pavement  opposite  to  him.  The 
other  occupant  of  the  carriage  was  talking  to  a 
gentleman  standing  on  the  other  side,  so  he  could 
not  see  her  face,  but  the  girl  was  not  apparently  in- 
terested in  the  conversation,  but  was  leaning  back 
with  her  face  turned  towards  Tip  Cat  and  her 
eyes  gazing  dreamily  along  the  sunny  roadway  as 
if  her  thoughts  (and  they  were  sad  ones)  were  far 
away. 

Tip  Cat  did  not  often  notice  faces,  least  of  all  ladies' 
faces ;  but  this  one  attracted  him,  for  it  was  un- 
usually sweet,  and  something  in  the  look  of  the 
eyes  reminded  him  of  Dick,  and,  through  Dick,  of 
the  Letty  of  long  ago.  But  while  he  was  looking  at 
her  the  other  lady  ended  her  conversation  and  turned, 
and,  as  her  eye  met  Tip  Cat's,  she  gave  a  smile  of 
recognition,  and  bowed  as  the  carriage  drove  off. 

Who  was  it  ?  Tip  Cat  wondered  ;  but  his  circle  of 
lady  friends  was  not  so  large  that  he  could  wonder 
long,  and,  by  the  time  his  hat  was  on  again,  he 
remembered  that  it  was  Mrs.  Vivian. 

That  evening,  as  he  was  sitting  by  while  the 
children  played,  half  reading  the  paper  and  half 


272  TIP  CAT. 

listening  to  the  children's  talk,  he  heard  a  name 
several  times  repeated  that  sounded  to  him  very  fa- 
miliar, and  yet  he  could  not  clearly  remember  why  he 
knew  it  so  well, 

"  Kathie  Dumbleton,"  Letty  said,  had  eyes  just 
like  the  doll,  Tip  Cat  had  bought  the  day  before  ; 
but  Sybil  thought  hers  were  darker,  and  at  last  they 
appealed  to  Tip  Cat,  as  Dick  was  not  there. 

"  Who  is  Kathie  Dumbleton  ? "  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  don't  you  know  ?  She  lives  with  Mrs. 
Vivian,  at  Tipton  Grange  ;  and  we  went  to  tea  with 
her  once,  and  she  had  a  pink  frock  on  and  she 
mended  mine,  and  there  were  sponge  cakes  for  tea, 
and  peacocks  and  lots  of  roses,  and  she  pinned  a  rose 
to  our  frocks,  and  Dick  gave  me  threepence  for  mine 
when  it  was  quite  withered." 

"  Oh-h-h-h !  "  said  Tip  Cat. 

He  remembered  now  how  the  name  had  grown  so 
familiar  to  him  ;  it  was  not  from  the  children's  prat- 
tle, but  from  a  voice  in  delirium,  repeating  it  over 
and  over  again,  joined  to  tender  adjectives  of  love 
or  sad  words  of  farewell.  How  stupid  and  slow  he 
had  been  in  putting  things  together  and  reading 
Dick's  sad,  little  love-story  !  And  no  doubt  that  was 
Kathie  Dumbleton  who  was  with  Mrs,  Vivian  that 


DICK'S  OBSTINACY. 


afternoon,  and  whose  sweet  face  he  had  noticed, 
and  perhaps  even  then  her  thoughts  had  been  with 
Dick,  as  her  eyes  gazed  dreamily  away  into  the  dis- 
tance. If  she  really  cared  for  Dick,  as  he  had  no 
doubt  Dick  cared  for  her,  why  should  they  be  parted  ? 
What  reason  could  there  be  for  that  heartbroken 
farewell  that  Dick  had  murmured  over  and  over 
again  in  his  delirium  ?  "  Kathie,  my  love,  my  love ; 
goodbye ! " 

Tip  Cat  was  very  silent  and  thoughtful  all  that 
evening,  but  he  noticed  how  Dick's  color  flushed 
up  when  he  came  in  and  the  children  referred  the 
debated  point  about  the  doll's  eyes  to  him,  and  how 
after  the  little  ones  had  gone  to  bed,  he  took  up  the 
waxen  beauty,  and  looked  at  the  pretty,  simpering 
face  with  an  eager  scrutiny,  and  then  pushed  it  away 
impatiently,  as  if  he  were  irritated  with  it,  or  him- 
self. 

But  all  the  time  Tip  Cat  was  hatching  a  little 
scheme,  and  the  next  afternoon  he  proceeded  to 
carry  it  out.  He  had  promised  to  take  Letty  and 
Sybil  for  a  drive  that  afternoon,  but  for  the  first  time 
in  the  course  of  their  acquaintance,  he  broke  his  pro- 
mise and  sent  them  off  with  Dick  instead,  saying 
,  that  he  had  some  business  to  do,  and,  after  seeing 


274  TIP  CAT. 

them  off,  he  set  out  himself  in  the  direction  of  the 
Imperial  Hotel,  where  an  examination  of  the  visi- 
tors' list  had  told  him  that  Mrs.  Vivian  and  her 
niece  were  staying. 


"  FOR  MY  SAKE. "  275 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

"FOR  MY  SAKE." 

IT  required  some  courage  in  Tip  Cat,  apart  from 
the  ultimate  object  of  his  visit,  to  pay  a  call  on 
two  ladies,  when  he  had  not  done  such  a  thing  for 
twenty-five  years  at  the  very  least ;  and  though, 
like  Ridge,  the  society  of  the  children  had  produced 
a  slight  improvement  in  his  personal  appearance  and 
way  of  dressing,  still,  he  was  a  gaunt,  remarkable 
figure,  and  many  turned  to  look  at  him  with  curiosity 
as  he  stalked  along  the  streets  with  his  shaggy  dog  at 
his  heels  ;  and  the  waiter  at  the  Imperial  looked  very 
suspiciously  at  this  most  unusual  sort  of  morning 
caller,  who  asked  for  Mrs.  Vivian,  and  he  looked 
rather  doubtfully  at  the  card,  which  had  been  bought 
at  a  stationer's  on  the  way  up,  and  on  which  the 
name  "  Tipton  Cathcart "  was  written  in  a  hand  which 
not  even  the  pin-pointed  pen  lent  at  the  shop  could 
rob  of  its  bold  and  rugged  character. 


276  TIP  CAT. 

But  the  waiter  returned  to  usher  him  in  with  a 
great  increase  of  alacrity  and  respect,  for  Mrs. 
Vivian  had  appeared  both  pleased  and  surprised  at 
the  sight  of  the  name,  and  had  desired  the  waiter  to 
show  the  gentleman  up  forthwith. 

It  was  certainly  enough  to  surprise  her,  for  it  was 
the  first  time  in  the  whole  course  of  her  experience 
of  her  strange  landlord,  now  of  many  years'  duration, 
that  he  had  done  anything  but  avoid  her  with  a 
pertinacity  that  bordered  on  downright  rudeness. 

"What  could  he  possibly  want  ?  "  she  wondered, 
and  for  the  first  few  minutes  she  could  not  solve  the 
problem,  while  he  sat  very  stiff  and  upright  on  a 
settee  in  the  window,  twisting  his  hat  round  and 
round  in  his  big  hands,  and  staring  out  across  the 
lovely,  blue  bay  as  if  he  were  intent  on  watching  the 
brown-sailed  fishing  boats  turning  into  Brixham 
Harbor,  and  only  answering,  with  gruff  monosyl- 
lables, to  her  gentle  stream  of  polite  nothings  about 
the  weather  and  the  scenery. 

Once  or  twice  he  gave  a  quick  look  round  the 
room,  but  there  was  no  one  there  but  Mrs.  Vivian, 
and  though  a  half-finished  sketch  and  an  open  col- 
or-box lay  on  the  table  close  by,  no  Kathie  Dum- 
bleton  made  her  appearance  on  the  scene  ;  so  there 


" FOR  MY  SAKE."  277 

was  no  help  for  it  but  to  plunge  into  the  object  of 
his  call  without  any  help  from  outward  circum- 
stances, and  this  he  did,  breaking  into  Mrs.  Vivian's 
enthusiastic  expressions  of  admiration  for  Anstey's 
Cove,  as  if  he  hardly  knew  she  were  speaking. 

"  You  have  a  niece,  I  believe  ? " 

"  Yes,  I  have  several." 

"  I  mean  Kathie  Dumbleton," 

"  Yes,  Miss  Dumbleton  is  now  staying  with  me." 
She  meant  the  slight  stress  on  the  Miss  to  be  a  re- 
proof to  this  very  rough,  almost  brutal,  old  man  ; 
but  she  might  have  spared  herself  the  trouble,  for,  if 
she  had  spoken  of  Kathie  as  her  royal  highness,  he 
would  scarcely  have  noticed  it,  so  set  was  he  on  get- 
ting out  what  he  wanted  to  say. 

"  There  is  a  young  fellow  I  am  much  interested 
in,  named  Dick  Lucas,"  Tip  Cat  went  on. 

"  Indeed  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Vivian,  with  outward  in- 
difference, but  with  a  sudden  remembrance  of  that 
evening  in  the  Grange  garden,  when  Kathie  had 
sobbed  out  her  broken-hearted  confession,  and  of 
evenings  since  then,  in  the  dusk  or  firelight,  when 
the  girl's  head  had  lain  on  her  lap,  and  the  young 
voice  had  whispered  that  she  never  could  forget,  or 
care  for  any  one  else.  But  Mrs.  Vivian  said  "  In- 


278  TIP  CAT. 

deed  ?  "  as  if  she  had  never  heard  the  name  be- 
fore. 

"  He  is  the  son  of  a  Colonel  Lucas,  who  died  in 
Indfa,  and  he  has  been  clerk  at  Mr.  Burgess's  at 
Slowmill  for  the  last  six  months." 

"  Really  ?  "  murmured  Mrs.  Vivian  ;  "  very  cred- 
itable to  the  young  man,  I'm  sure." 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe,  madam,  that  he  has 
formed  an  attachment  for  your  niece." 

"  Indeed?"  said  Mrs.  Vivian,  with  a  slight  rais- 
ing of  the  eyebrows  and  drawing  in  of  the  lips,  that 
might  have  conveyed,  to  any  one  more  sensitive  than 
a  rhinoceros,  the  ridiculous  presumption  of  such  an 
attachment;  and  the  utter  indifference  with  which 
it  should  be  regarded.  But  Tip  Cat  continued,  "  I 
have  the  very  highest  opinion  of  young  Lucas, 
and  I  only  hope  your  niece  is  half  good  enough 
for  him,  but  I  think  she  is  an  uncommonly  lucky 
girl." 

Now  Mrs.  Vivian  was  not  easily  provoked,  she 
was  fat  and  comfortable  and  easy-going,  and  would 
have  been  heartily  glad  if  all  the  rest  of  the  world 
had  been  fat  and  comfortable  and  easy-going  too ; 
but  the  reader  will  allow  that  Tip  Cat's  way  of  treat- 
ing the  subject  was  enough  to  disturb  the  most  in- 


"  FOR  MY  SAKE. "  279 

dolent  good-nature,  and  Mrs.  Vivian  sat  more  up- 
right in  her  arm  chair  than  she  had  done  for  many  a 
day,  and  directed  quite  a  withering  glance  at  the  un- 
conscious Tip  Cat. 

"  I  think  I  understood  you  to  say  that  this  young 
man  was  a  clerk  at  Burgess's  office." 

"  Yes,"  said  Tip  Cat. 

"  Not  a  very  exalted  position — a  paid  clerk  to  a 
country  lawyer." 

"  No  one  said  it  was,"  growled  Tip  Cat. 

"  Then  do  you  really  mean  to  say,  Mr.  Cathcart, 
that  you  think  that  this  young  man  is  in  a  position 
to  propose  to  my  niece,  who  will  come  into  a  good 
property  at  her  father's  death,  besides  what  she  al- 
ready has  from  her  mother  ?  " 

"  Eh — h — h  ? "  said  Tip  Cat,  turning  quite  bewil- 
dered to  look  at  Mrs.  Vivian,  whose  heightened  col- 
or and  indignant  eyes  were  quite  unaccountable  to 
him.  He  had  quite  lost  sight,  had  this  romantic, 
old  man,  of  outward  circumstances  and  worldly  con- 
siderations of  wealth  and  position,  and  had  been 
thinking  only  of  two  young  hearts  that  loved  one 
another,  one  of  which  he  knew  was  good  and  pure 
and  true  ;  and  he  stared  at  Mrs.  Vivian  for  a  minute, 
in  silence — "  looking  positively  idiotic  "  that  lady 


280  TIP  CAT. 

said  in  describing  the  scene  afterwards — but  at  last 
a.  light  seemed  to  dawn  on  his  mind  and  a  smile  on 
the  grave  astonishment  of  his  eyes. 

"  Oh  !  "  he  said,  "  I  see  !  I  beg  your  pardon  ! 
You  see  Tipton  Grange  estate  is  considerable,  and 
it  will  all  be  Dick  Lucas's  ;  and  as  for  settlements 
and  that  sort  of  nonsense,  I  generally  leave  such 
things  to  the  lawyers,  but  I'll  undertake  there  shall 
be  no  grumbling  over  such  trifles." 

Mrs.  Vivian's  breath  was  fairly  taken  away,  and 
I  think  if  Tip  Cat  had  looked  idiotic  the  minute  be- 
fore, she  must  have  looked  so  now,  as  she  sank 
back  with  all  the  stiffness  taken  out  of  her  backbone 
and  the  firmness  out  of  her  lips  and  the  fire  out  of 
her  eyes  ;  only  Tip  Cat  did  not  care  a  snap  how  she 
looked,  for  just  then  his  eye  caught  sight,  in  the  ter- 
raced gardens  below  the  window,  of  a  girl's  figure 
walking  pensively  up  and  down  in  the  sunshine. 

"  Is  that  your  niece  there  ?  "  he  said,  and  hardly 
waiting  for  Mrs.  Vivian's  assent  he  got  up  ;  "  then 
with  your  permission  I  will  go  and  speak  to  her  my- 
self. Good  day  to  you."  And  away  he  strode,  leav- 
ing poor  Mrs.  Vivian  quite  overcome,  and  obliged 
to  ring  for  her  maid  and  give  way  to  a  glass  of 
sherry  and  palpitations  brought  on  by  what  she  at 


"  FOR  MY  SAKE."  281 


first  called,  the  brutal,  and  afterwards,  on  reflection, 
the  eccentric,  behavior  of  Tip  Cat. 

Meanwhile,  that  offender  had  made  his  way  down 
stairs  and  out  into  the  hotel  garden,  where  he  found 
Kathie  alone  as  the  sun  was  getting  low  in  the  west ; 
and  the  two  or  three  invalids  who  had  been  crawl- 
ing up  and  down  the  paths  had  taken  flight  at  the 
first  tint  of  sunset  in  the  sky,  and  breath  of  evening 
in  the  air,  and  had  fled  for  shelter. 

Kathie  was  a  little  bit  startled  at  the  sudden  ap- 
pearance of  this  strange,  uncouth,  old  man,  but  she 
guessed  who  he  was  before  he  spoke,  and  his  voice 
was  softened  to  something  of  the  same  tone  that 
Letty  and  Sybil  knew,  as  he  told  her  (the  old  de- 
ceiver !)  that  her  aunt  had  given  him  leave  to  come 
and  find  her  there  as  he  had  a  few  words  to  say  to 
her. 

Curious  observers,  watching  from  the  hotel  win- 
dows as  the  two  paced  up  and  down  the  path  while 
the  sunset  glowed  and  faded  in  the  sky,  speculated 
and  wondered  what  the  subject  of  such  absorbing 
interest  could  be,  and  what  that  strange  looking, 
rough,  old  man  could  be  saying  with  those  pleading 
movements  of  the  hands  and  eager  eyes,  scanning 
the  downcast,  troubled  face  of  the  girl. 


282  TIP  CAT. 

He  plunged  into  his  subject  without  any  preface, 
and  began  telling  her  of  the  interest  he  felt  in  Dick 
Lucas  and  his  little  sisters  on  account  of  their  dead 
mother.  He  noticed  how  the  wave  of  color  rushed 
up  into  her  temples  and  even  to  her  little  ears  at  the 
first  mention  of  Dick's  name,  and  went  on  more  hope- 
fully, having  been  a  little  damped  by  his  interview 
with  Mrs.  Vivian.  He  told  her  of  Dick's  sudden 
loss  of  fortune  on  his  grandfather's  death,  of  which 
she  already  knew  a  little,  and  how  bravely  he  had 
tried  to  support  himself  and  his  two  little  sisters,  and 
how  illness  had  come  at  last  to  end  the  pitiful  strug- 
gle, and  how  nearly  death  had  followed.  He  saw  the 
tears  start  and  tremble  in  her  eyes,  though  she  kept 
them  so  steadily  cast  down,  and  sparkle  on  her  lashes 
though  she  made  a  pretext  to  pick  an  ivy  leaf  on  the 
wall  to  whisk  them  away  unnoticed.  He  told  her 
how  Dick  had  slowly  recovered  and  how  he  (Tip  Cat) 
had  set  all  his  heart  and  hopes  on  having  Dick  as 
his  son,  as  Letty  and  Sybil  were  to  be  his  little 
daughters,  and  how  the  obstinate,  young  fellow  had 
persisted  in  refusing  and  had  actually  arranged  to  go 
back  to  his  drudgery  at  Mr.  Burgess's  in  spite  of  all 
persuasions. 

"  I  have  tried  all  the  inducements  I  could  think  of," 


"  FOR  MY  SAKE:'  2 83 

Tip  Cat  said,  "  to  make  him  alter  his  determination, 
but  it  is  no  good,  and  as  a  last  resource  I  have  come 
to  you,  to  ask  you  to  use  your  influence." 

They  had  come  to  the  end  of  the  path  furthest  from 
the  hotel,  and  as  he  said  this  they  both  stopped,  and 
Kathie  gave  a  sudden,  startled  look  into  his  face  and 
then  began  stripping  the  ivy  leaf  in  her  hand  to  pieces 
with  nervous  fingers.  But  Tip  Cat  had  no  more  to 
say,  he  was  waiting  for  her  answer,  and  at  last  she 
said  very  low :  "  I  don't  see  what  I  can  do  in  the 
matter." 

"  Don't  you  ?  "  He  turned  quite  fiercely  on  her  and 
his  voice  sounded  harsh  enough  now.  "  Then  you 
don't  care  for  him  !  Why,  do  you  think,  if  my  love 
Letty  had  come  to  me  and  said,  '  Tip  Cat,  for  my 
sake  ! '  there  is  anything  in  the  world  I  would  not  have 
done  ?  Heaven  forgive  me  !  I  think  I  would  have 
given  my  very  soul  and  my  hope  of  immortality  !  " 

She  was  leaning  against  the  balustrades,  with  her 
face  turned  away  and  he  could  only  see  the  outline 
of  her  cheek  against  the  crimson  of  the  western  sky> 
and  her  slender  throat  drawn  up  with  what  seemed 
to  him  an  air  of  cold,  proud  indifference,  he  could  not 
see  the  quivering  of  her  lips,  or  the  tumultuous  beat- 
ing of  her  heart,  which  had  never  seemed  quite  to 


284  TIP   CAT. 

regain  its  calm  since  that  passionate  kiss  of  her  young 
lover's  that  July  evening. 

He  stood  waiting  a  minute,  and  then  without  an- 
other word  turned  and  walked  away,  full  of  bitter 
disappointment,  and  every  sound  of  his  heavy  footfall 
on  the  gravel  path  seemed  to  Kathie  a  clod  thrown 
into  the  grave  of  her  happiness,  buried  without  hope 
of  resurrection. 

Reader,  do  you  know  in  Paul  and  Virginia  the  ac- 
count of  Virginia's  death  ?  and  how  she  preferred  to 
die  rather  than  cast  off  the  clothing  which  would  have 
impeded  the  swimming  of  the  brave  sailor  who  would 
have  saved  her,  and  how  this  is  treated  as  exquisite 
and  refined  modesty  ?  Even  as  a  child  it  struck  me  as 
false  sentiment  and  that,  to  pervert  the  words  of  Scrip- 
ture, the  life  is  more  than  raiment.  And  do  you 
know  how  many  love  stories  in  fiction  (fewer,  I  fancy, 
in  real  life)  end  sadly  because  the  heroine's  modesty 
will  not  allow  a  word  or  look  to  reveal  the  love  that 
is  breaking  her  heart  ?  and  so  two  people  are  made 
miserable  and  two  lives  spoilt.  Far  be  it  from  me  to 
speak  a  word  against  modesty.  All  honor  to  it !  There 
cannot  be  too  much  of  it,  but,  for  pity's  sake,  let  it 
be  real,  not  false  ! 

But  Kathie  was  not  of  the  stuff  those  heroines  are 


"  FOR  MY  SAKE."  285 

made  of,  for,  before  Tip  Cat  had  reached  the  steps 
at  the  end  of  the  terrace,  she  was  by  his  side  with 
her  little  hand  on  his  arm,  and  her  face  turned  plead- 
ingly up,  more  pleading  for  the  tears  that  filled  and 
overflowed  the  eyes. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  said,  "  what  I  can  do  ?  I  will  do 
anything." 

Did  they  say  Tip  Cat  was  harsh  and  rough  ?  Did 
they  say  his  eyes  were  hard  and  imperious,  and  his 
manner  brutal  ?  Ask  Kathie  Dumbleton  how  tend- 
erly he  took  her  hand  in  his,  how  kindly  he  smiled 
down  at  her,  and  how  gently  he  spoke.  "  My  dear, 
trust  in  me.  I  will  take  care  of  you  and  not  ask  you 
to  do  anything  that  I  would  not  ask  of  a  sweet, 
young  daughter  of  my  own." 

The  watchers  from  the  hotel  windows  could  make 
neither  head  nor  tail  of  it,  as  they  watched  the  little 
scene,  at  the  end  of  which  they  saw  Tip  Cat  lead 
Kathie  away,  holding  the  hand  that  lay  on  his  arm, 
and  some  declared  that  as  they  came  nearer  they 
could  see  that  Kathie  was  crying,  and  when  they 
passed  through  the  hotel  and  called  a  fly,  and  drove 
off  in  it  together,  fche  interested  spectators  felt  as  if 
it  must  be  some  one's  duty  to  go  and  warn  Mrs, 
Vivian  of  her  niece's  goings  on. 


'286  TIP  CAT. 

I  do  not  think  that  Tip  Cat  had  any  very  settled 
plan  of  action,  when  he  carried  Kathie  Dumbleton 
off  in  this  way,  and  as  for  Kathie,  she  had  no  idea 
at  all  of  what  was  going  to  happen,  only  as  long  as 
Tip  Cat  held  her  little  hand  in  his  firm  grasp,  she 
did  not  feel  very  much  afraid. 

It  was  nearly  dark  when  the  fly  stopped  and  Tip 
Cat  helped  her  out  and  led  her,  still  holding  her  hand 
in  his,  into  the  house  and  opened  the  door  of  a  room 
lighted  only  by  a  great,  warm  fire.  At  first  Kathie 
thought  it  was  empty,  but  Tip  Cat  said,  "  Dick ! "  and 
at  his  voice  some  one  got  up  from  the  sofa  at  the 
further  end,  and  came  into  the  firelight. 

"  Dick,  I  have  brought  a  visitor  to  see  you."  But 
at  these  words  .the  poor,  little  visitor  was  overwhelmed 
with  a  passion  of  confusion,  and  clung  to  Tip  Cat's 
arm  as  if  it  were  her  only  safety.  She  suddenly  re- 
membered how  last  she  had  parted  from  this  same 
Dick,  how  could  she  look  at  him  ?  how  could  she 
speak  to  him  ?  What  could  she  say  ? 

And  then  all  at  once  she  looked  up  and  saw  such 
a  poor,  white-faced  Dick,  so  changed,  so  gaunt,  with 
such  great,  hollow  eyes  and  such  cropped  hair,  hold- 
ing out  such  thin,  wasted  hands  to  her  !  Was  this 
the  proud,  young  fellow  who  refused  Tip  Cat's  offers, 


"  FOR  MY  SAKE."  287 

and  persisted  in  working  his  way  ?  how  long  would 
he  stand  the  treadmill  at  Mr.  Burgess's  and  the  poor 
pay  and  hard  living  ? 

In  the  pity  of  it  she  forgot  all  her  shame,  and  let 
go  of  Tip  Cat's  arm,  and  put  both  her  hands  into 
Dick's,  and,  looking  up  into  his  eyes,  spoke  the  first 
words  that  came  into  her  head,  the  very  words  that 
Tip  Cat  had  told  her  would  have  been  so  powerful 
with  him  from  the  lips  of  his  love.  "  Oh,  Dick,  for 
my  sake  !  " 

Reader,  do  you  think  Tip  Cat  had  any  doubt  of  his 
victory  after  that,  even  though  he  stopped  to  hear  no 
more,  but  slipped  away  into  the  next  room  and  sat 
watching  the  lights  appearing  along  the  streets  and 
in  the  houses,  and  higher  up  the  stars  coming  so 
softly,  gently  out  on  night's  breast  ? 

His  heart  was  as  tremulously  happy  as  if  the  long, 
empty  years  had  rolled  back  and  he  were  young 
again  and  telling  that  love,  on  which  death  had  laid 
its  solemn  seal  of  silence,  in  Letty's  ears  and  his  eyes 
grew  dim  as  he  murmured,  "  Letty,  my  love,  at  last !  " 

THE   END. 


.,v 


AA    000  731  768    8 


OF  CAEIFOl 
1GELES 


PZ7 


• 


